Ghost from the past
by 19.1.25
Summary: Naruto gets banished and disappears without a trace. Seven years later Konoha is fighting a new war and in desperate times they call upon the aid of two mysterious mercenaries. Who are they and what secrets do they carry with them?
1. Chapter 1

**Ghost from the past**

Chapter 1

Even in the middle of nowhere she could not defeat or even hide from her undying enemy, the hellish nightmare called paperwork. She had thought that since she was no longer in Konoha she would not have to deal with this menace. Hell, she had come here to heal the many shinobi who had gotten themselves wounded in this war. But unfortunately, the hokage's job never ends and her leadership was crucial, especially during this war.

The war had basically started after Akatsuki had been destroyed. When the criminal organisation had fallen at the hands of a mercenary named 'Yuurei'(ghost), Amegakure had fallen with it. She could still not believe that the organisation had taken over that country or that the Akatsuki had fallen so easily to only one man. However she was glad that Uchiha Itachi had not died with them. This led to the return of the man that now led her ninja's on the battlefield, Uchiha Sasuke. While she still hated the bastard, who's foolishness had resulted in the banishment of her 'son' seven years ago. She could not deny that he was good at his job. If it wasn't for him the number of casualties would be a lot higher.

But when Ame fell Kusa took over and instantly gained a enormous amount of natural resources. The once small country instantly became a big player amongst the elemental countries and acted like it. They demanded more money from people who wanted to travel through across their land, asked for higher prices on their exported products and started asking lower prices for their missions, which crippled the economies of the other hidden villages. It did not take long for Konoha and Suna, Kusa's neighbouring countries, to demand changes. Countless attempts had been made to come to a compromise but in the end war was the only option left. Konoha did not want to go to war. They were afraid that Oto would strike against them when their shinobi's were out on the battlefield, but two years after Akatsuki had fallen Yuurei appeared again and destroyed everything that Orochimaru had build. The snake's head was left in front of the giant gates of Konoha.

With Oto gone, war was inevitable. She had expected that the Suna-Konoha alliance would settle that matter swiftly. However, Iwa and Taki formed an alliance with Kusa and the war escalated.

It had been a year since the war had started and things did not look good. They were losing more ground every day and you could not even begin to count the number of shinobi that had fallen in battle or had gotten injured. To help those that had gotten injured the godaime hokage of Konoha had travelled to the borders of Hi no kuni to heal the wounded herself. She had left her first apprentice, Shizune, at home to do the paperwork and was supposed to help her second apprentice, Haruno Sakura, in the field hospital that had been build by the Konoha forces. But instead she was doing paperwork in the office she had been given. It irked her to no end. Not only was she supposed to be helping in the hospital but while doing the boring paperwork she could not help to let her mind wander to her surrogate son, Naruto.

The blond boy had once been the brightest light in her life. But when Sasuke had defected from Konoha Naruto and five others had been send to retrieve him. The mission ended disastrous. The whole retrieval team came back injured, Naruto worst of all, he had a giant hole through his chest and a severe case of chakra poisoning due to the Kyuubi. Nevertheless she could heal his wounds and help him get back on his feet. But when the village council blamed him for the failed mission and demanded his execution she could do nothing for him. He broke that day and refused to talk from that moment on. She had fought tooth and nail to save Naruto but in the end changing the verdict to banishment was al she could do for him. Telling him the sad news was one of the hardest things she had ever done. He had taken the news silently and after that he had just left, without saying a word. He had just packed his belongings, which weren't much, and left the village in the middle of the night without saying anything. He did not even say goodbye to his friends and teachers. To this day she is still depressed about the blonds departure, she had tried to come in contact with the boy, but not even Jiraiya's infamous spy-network could locate him. She had given up hope of ever seeing him again.

She placed the last autograph on the document she was reading and put it away. She sighed and picked up a bottle of sake, finding it emptily. She groaned heavily, now there was nothing to ease the burden. She reached for the next file on top of the enormous pile of paper on her desk and opened it. A small sigh escaped her mouth again, at least this was interesting.

The files contained information on the two mercenaries Konoha had hired to help them in this war. It had been obvious for some time now that Konoha and Suna would lose this war if things did not change, therefore both hidden villages had putt together a ridiculous amount of money to hired the two best and most notorious mercenaries in the world.

The first was the same man that indirectly started this war, Yuurei himself. Know for his high skills and brutal efficiency, he is said to be the most powerful ninja in the world. He had earned his name on the battlefield where he moved as a ghost, he just appears when the battle starts and vanishes without a trace when he is done, leaving no one alive. Therefore most people didn't even know if he truly exists, but that did not stop the countless myths about the man to surface. Some people called him a hero for ridding the world of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru. Others call him a demon for the vicious way he slaughters his enemies without mercy. But everyone knows one thing for sure, he is the best there is. Very little is know about this man, hell, it hasn't even been confirmed that he is a man at all. The only thing Tsunade's report tells her is his rank and minor unconfirmed details about his appearance. He is the first triple S-ranked shinobi in the bingo-book, not even the yondaime had reached that rank, he had only gotten to double S-rank before he died. But the difference is huge, where double S-ranked ninja get a 'flee on sight' warning, Yuurei got something entirely different. No warning at all, for there was nothing you could do if you were to face Yuurei on the battlefield. Taking your own live is an option, but to give ninja that advise is just ridiculous. Therefore the comity that published the bingo-book decided not to place a warning. The only thing that is know about his looks is the he presumably has long blond hair, wears a red trench-coat and that his face is covered with a plain white ANBU-style mask. Nothing else is know about this enigma, no name, no place of birth, no date of birth or even an estimated age, not even a little bit of information on any jutsus he uses.

The other mercenary was just as big an mystery. Again, only nickname, rank and appearance are mentioned in the report. According to the information Tsunade had this man wears a long black cloak, has black hair and wears a black ANBU-style mask with a red crescent moon depicted on it. That was where he got his name; Gengetsu (crescent moon). Gengetsu was, unlike his partner, only double S-ranked. He had become Yuurei's associate shortly after Akatsuki had fallen. There were rumours that Gengetsu was once a member of the criminal organisation and that he had joined Yuurei when Akatsuki was destroyed, but those rumours were impossible to confirm.

These two mercenaries had been the one that had taken down Orochimaru. After that they had taken some assignments from different hidden villages and had made an even greater name for themselves. But in al that time they had never worked for Konoha or Suna. This war would be the first time they would work together and Tsunade was not looking forward to it. She hated the idea of hiring mercenaries, especially mercenaries as violent as these two. The fact that they had avoided Konoha and Suna could mean that they dislike the alliance or that they are nuke-nin, wanted by these villages. Most nuke-nin became mercenaries, so the theory was not that unreasonable. This could proof to be difficult when they arrived at the base where she was now. And if problems should arise she would have no way to stop them. These two hirelings are far beyond her or anybodies level. Maybe with the help of the kazekage, Gaara, and some elite jounin, like Jiraiya_(Sannin is only a title, not an actual rank, a lot of people seem to forget that)_, Kakashi, Kurenai, Sasuke, Shino and Temari they would stand a chance, even if it's a small one. She really wasn't looking forward to meeting the two shinobi. But desperate times call for desperate measures and this was a desperate time.

Tsunade looked over the file one last time, but no additional information had been given. She sighed for the umpteenth time that day and put the file away. Looking up at the mountain of paperwork she still had to read, she came to the conclusion that she was tired and needed to stretch her legs. The documents could wait, she was needed in the hospital so that is were she should be.

* * *

When she exited the barracks that had become her office she could look out over the encampment Konoha had constructed together with Suna. Endless rows of tents and barracks were build around a central clearing where her office, the hospital and other more important buildings were situated. The central clearing was more like a town square. Most shinobi would gather here and wait for orders or medical aid. As always the clearing was flocked with shinobi, most of them from Konoha as most Suna nin resided at Suna's own base of operations within their own border. But the kazekage and some of his most powerful jounin where here at the moment, since the main battlefront was closer to their location then Suna.

As she looking around her she noticed that none of the gather shinobi looked healthy, most of them were death tired and the others injured. Most of them sat around in dirty clothes and with solemn looks on their faces, looking at the muddy ground or of in the distance, ignoring her and almost everything around them. No one wanted to be here, no one wanted to fight this war, but things could not be helped. She walked over to the hospital and before she stepped in she looked over the clearing one last time.

And that was when she noticed them. Two men completely different from those around them. They stood unmoving in the middle of the clearing, seemingly not caring about the sombre mood of those around them. They stood amongst the tired and injured and looked as if they had never fought a war before. There clothes were clean, their stance relaxed, but every ninja could see that they would be able to react immediately against any kind of attack. But to her the most noticeable thing was the lack of a hitai-ate and that both men were staring straight at her.

She discreetly signalled her ANBU guard and within seconds the two men where surrounded by twelve ANBU. This, of course, alerted the other ninja in the clearing and after a minute the duo was surrounded by roughly 150 shinobi, but the two men did not look affected by any of this.

Tsunade made her way through the crowd. When she had reached the centre of the mass of people, where the two men stood. she looked around her. Tsunade noticed that there were a lot of strong shinobi with her. The 'Konoha twelve'_(rookie 9 plus team Gai and Sai)_, with the exception of Sakura and Hinata, who were still at work in the hospital, where there. As well as the jounin that had trained them. She also noticed the absence of Jiraiya and the kazekage and quickly order a chunin to get them. She then tuned her attention to the two men, who, according to the description she had just gotten from the file in her office, must be the legendary Yuurei and Gengetsu.

Before she said anything she took in the appearance of the two notorious shinobi. The first was about 5'10" and wore a long black cloak that almost reached the ground. The cloak reminded her of the cloaks the Akatsuki wore, but without the red clouds. This cloak was completely black, no markings of any kind. This man he long black hair that reached a little bit past his shoulders and was tied in a low ponytail. The only bit of colour on the clothing of this man was the red crescent moon on his black ANBU mask.

The taller man was a lot more colourful. He was about 6'2" and wore a pair of bright red, tight fitting pants that seemed to be made of leather. He also wore a pair combat boots made of the same red leather. His abdomen was covered in bandages, but they did not seem to be there because of an injury, but there are more shinobi that wrap bandages around their ankles, wrists an abdomen so she did not pay it any more thought. In addition to this he wore a long tight fitting trench-coat with a variety of golden clasps on it. It was made of the same leathery material as his pants and boots. He did not wear a shirt underneath the coat so his chest was bare. She noticed that his chest was devoid of any kind of scar. For a ninja that supposedly fought as much as these two that was quite remarkable. On each shoulder he had attached there golden pieces of metal that together formed a shoulder guard. His long blond, almost golden, hair fell down his back till his knees. His hair was a colour she had only seen twice before, with both heirs of the Namikaze clan, but thinking about them brought back painful memories. To finish his appearance, he had covered his face with a plain white ANBU mask. _(Think Sephiroth, but with red and golden clothes, blond hair and a white mask)_

Neither man seemed to be armed, not even a kunai pouch or something along those lines. However Gengetsu could easily hide a weapon in the long sleeves of his cloak. But even unarmed these men are a huge threat to her and the ninja around her.

"I take it you are Yuurei and Gengetsu?" asked Tsunade, breaking the silence. This revelation made some of the gathered shinobi take a step back.

The two mercenaries stayed silent for a couple of seconds, as if they were observing the shinobi around them. It was Gengetsu who spoke up and answered Tsunade.

"That is correct hokage-sama. We came here since you requested our aid in this war."

Tsunade was glad to hear the respectful suffix. Maybe this would go easier then she had assumed beforehand.

"Great, you can begin immediately." Replied the hokage, not really wanting to make a big scene about this. She attempted to walk away towards her office after motioning the two mercenaries to follow her. However before she had taken a second step she noticed that neither man was following her.

"If you will follow me to my office I can assign you a mission." She said as she turned around the face the duo again.

"I'm sorry, hokage-sama. But we have a few demands before we start." Said Gengetsu.

Tsunade silently cursed. She was afraid something like this would happen.

"Speak." Was her short answer after she had seen that both Gaara and Jiraiya had arrived. This would be a lot easier with both of them here.

"We demand to receive half of our money now and the other half when we are done. In return we give you our word that we will stay at least one week, unless our other demands are ignored. If that happens we will leave immediately, with half of the money and we will not hesitate to use force if necessary." Said Gengetsu and he looked at Tsunade to get a answer. She looked like she was thinking it over, but in reality she knew that she did not have a choice. She answered the mercenary with a nod after Gaara had silently indicated he agreed as well.

"Secondly we demand that you or your subordinates do not leave is in the dark about missions parameters and everything else. We wish to know what is going on at all time and to be treated as normal Konoha shinobi. If this does not happen we will leave." Once again he halted his speech and waited for Tsunade to give her approval. Which he quickly got.

"Our third and last demand is that no one actively tries to figure out our identity or where we are from. We both did not leave our home village in a friendly manner and it would cause serious trouble for all of us if they would find out that we are still alive and where we are."

This time Gengetsu did not wait for a response from the hokage, meaning that it really did not matter if she or Gaara was okay with this.

"That was all. We will now follow you to your office." Concluded Gengetsu.

Tsunade nodded and turned around again to walk over to her office, when she caught something out of the corner of her eyes.

Sasuke was glaring, okay, not something new, but he looked truly pissed off. And he was sending his hateful glances at Yuurei of all people.

The mercenary seemed to have noticed this as well.

"Can I help you?" spoke Yuurei for the first time. Tsunade noted that he had a surprisingly soft and gentle voice for such a infamous shinobi, particularly one know for his violence.

The Uchiha's glare intensified and those that knew him, like the 'Konoha twelve' and their sensei's readied themselves to step in if Sasuke would do something foolish. He may be a great shinobi, but he lets himself be guided by his anger and envy to much. And especially against something like Yuurei that could prove to be disastrous.

"Fight me."

While most of the present ninja's were amazed by either Sasuke's bravery or his stupidity, neither Yuurei or Gengetsu seemed too surprised by this. They looked as if they had been expecting this, but then again, it was hard to tell with their masks on.

"And why should I fight you exactly?" asked Yuurei.

"You killed my brother and took away my only goal in life. I want to proof that I am stronger than he was by beating you." responded Sasuke angrily.

"I can tell you right now, you are now match for me or Itachi."

Tsunade decided that this was a good moment to step in before Sasuke would do something even more retarded. But the Uchiha had given her a good idea to get to know some more about the two mysterious shinobi.

"Sasuke stop this immediately." Luckily for her even Sasuke was not stupid enough to ignore a direct order from one of his superiors. Tsunade then turned to the two mercenaries and said. "While Sasuke behaviour is completely out of order he did have a good idea." Most people raised an eyebrow at that statement even Yuurei and Gengetsu, but no one could tell because of their masks. Tsunade took no notice of this and continued. "We don't know anything about your skills and fighting style. It's hard to assign you missions if we don't know what you specialize in. We don't even know if you truly deserve the rank you have been given in the Bingo-book. I suggest you two spar against some of our shinobi to give us a good indication of your skills." The hokage mentally patted her own back for coming up with such a clever plan.

Yuurei and Gengetsu looked at each other for a couple of seconds. No words were said until Gengetsu turned to Tsunade.

"We agree to spar with some of your shinobi."

Tsunade smiled. "Great, let's get started."

* * *

**How was it? Average, good, bad, so good you want to hunt me down and hug me till I suffocate (I don't see that happening) or so bad that you want to hunt me down and suffocate me with a hug? At least tell me what you thought of it.**

**And now there are a couple of things I would like to tell you. **

**For those of you that are concerned about my other story. I will not abandon it. I know I have not updated it in quite a while, but I had a slight case of a huge writers-block. I had a lot of good idea's but none of them would work in that story, so I used or will use them in this one.**

**And I know that the Naruto-gets-banished-after-failing-to-retrieve-Sasuke-and-comes-back-years-later-to-save-the-day thing is not really original, but I plan to take this story a whole other way than most others. At least I think so, I have not read an other fic that took the same approach as I, so I should be good. You don't know what my approach will be, so don't give me reviews saying that I'm incorrect about this.**

**Also, I will be pairing Naruto with Kurenai in this fic. Why…? Because I say so. I love this pairing, so I will write a fic with it. You can not change my mind so don't even try. But to make this work, we are going to pretend that her relationship with Asuma did not work out and they broke up two years ago or something. But the bearded man is still alive, with Naruto gone Akatsuki had no business with Konoha and vice versa. And more importantly: ****They did not have a child together****. Remember that. You may call it: 'taking the easy way out', I call it 'artistic freedom', but it's basically the same thing.**

**Also I want you to know that I have read every manga chapter twice, so I know what's going on in the recent chapters, but those chapters do not comply with what I want for this story. So basically everything post-time skip will be ignored. Unless I decide otherwise later on.**

**And do you really think that if I owned Naruto that I would be here. Hell no, I would be in Japan, beating the living daylights out of Kishimoto for ruining my manga.**

**And that was it. I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. But I would like to add that if you can not figure out who Yuurei is, you really should not be here. Gengetsu's identity is a little more difficult, but I left a couple of hints and everyone with decent knowledge of the manga/anime should be able to figure it out.**

**Till next time,**

**19.1.25**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ghost from the past**

Chapter 2

Tsunade walked in front of the giant mass of people heading towards to training-grounds at the back of the encampment. Word about the two famous mercenaries had spread quickly and even more shinobi had come to watch them spar against Konoha's finest.

When the group arrived at the training-ground, which was actually noting more than open field surrounded by some trees, the accompanying shinobi spread out, leaving the hokage with the two mercenaries standing in the middle.

"Yuurei and Gengetsu have joined us in this war, But before they can begin they will have a on-on-one spar with some of our shinobi to determine their level of skills. Are there any volunteers?" spoke Tsunade to the gathered shinobi.

No one was surprised when Sasuke stepped forward and arrogantly declared that he would fight Yuurei.

However, to Tsunade's chagrin, there weren't any ninja willing to have a spar with Gengetsu.

"Gengetsu-san. What do you specialize in?" asked the hokage as she turned to the man in black.

"Ninjutsu, genjutsu and stealth, hokage-sama." Answered Gengetsu.

"Okay." Said Tsunade as she thought about a possible match for the mercenary. She needed someone who could see through genjutsu and is good at tracking his opponents. And preferably a shinobi that specialized in taijutsu since that seemed to be Gengetsu's weakness. It did not take her very long to decide.

She turned to her right and searched the crowd for the shinobi she needed. Finding him amongst his team-mates and friends she addressed him. "Hyuuga Neji. You will spar with Gengetsu as soon as Sasuke and Yuurei have finished."

The stoic man nodded. He had come to the conclusion that he would be one of the best opponents for Gengetsu with his Byakugan. He was not looking forward to it, but an order was an order and he would not bring shame to the Hyuuga-clan by disobeying the hokage.

Nevertheless he focussed his attention on the fight preceding his own. Tsunade had left the field and had joined Jiraiya and Gaara on the side. Both mercenaries and a smirking Sasuke remained standing in the middle.

Yuurei and Gengetsu turned to each other, no words were spoken, but after a short period of silence Yuurei nodded and spoke. "As you wish." None of the gathered shinobi understood what was going on, what did they talk about? Hell, how did they communicate in the first place?

"Thanks." Said Gengetsu quietly before he walked away and joined Tsunade on the side of the clearing.

Tsunade looked at both combatants before she spoke. "This is just a spar, I don't want any deaths. So if I say it's over, it is really over. Got that?" Neither man seemed to acknowledge here order. She sighed, she was getting to old for this.

Without further ado she indicated to both participants to start this spar.

An intense silence settled over the gathered crowd. Neither Sasuke or Yuurei made move.

That was until Yuurei turned his body to fully face the Uchiha, but he did not drop into some kind of battle-stance. He just stood there relaxed, as if Sasuke was no threat at all and if you were to look at his reputation that was probably true. His relaxed stance greatly irritated the arrogant Uchiha. Was this guy mocking him?

Sasuke decided to show his opponent the true power of an Uchiha and activated his Sharingan. This seemed to impress most people in the crowd, Yuurei however did not appear to be affected by the display. Sasuke drew his Kusanagi and was about to leap at his opponent when the other combatant asked him a question.

"Why do you want to fight me so badly?" asked Yuurei with an emotionless voice.

Sasuke shot him a glare, but decided to humour the blond for once and answer his question. "To prove once and for all that I'm stronger than Itachi was." Said the Uchiha angrily.

"Why?"

Sasuke shot his adversary another glare. He did not want to answer his questions he wanted to beat this guy into the ground, and that is what he would do.

Sasuke dashed at his opponent with a speed that most people in the crowd could not follow. When he was upon Yuurei he brought his sword down diagonally, hoping to cut the mercenary's chest open.

The sound of metal hitting metal rang through the area. Sasuke's eyes widened. His opponent had blocked his attack with a sword of his own.

'_How?'_ was the only thing going through the Uchiha's mind. He had not seen the blond draw a sword. Neither did he see him move to block, it was simple too fast for even his Sharingan to follow.

Sasuke immediately jumped back and took on a defensive stance. He glared at his adversary, who now carried a six foot long nodachi in his right hand.

At the side of the clearing Tsunade turned to the other mercenary.

"Excuse me, Gengetsu-san. But what is Yuurei's area of expertise?"

The black-clad man did not take his eyes away from the two fighters, but answered the hokage's question none the less.

"He specializes in kenjutsu and elemental manipulation, he also has the ability to automatically see through every genjutsu that might be affecting him." Spoke the mercenary.

"Elemental manipulation? You mean he specializes in elemental ninjutsu?" asked Tsunade, who did not understand why the mercenary gave such a weird name to something so common.

"No, I mean that he can control the 5 elements. He can make them do whatever he wants. For example, he can reverse and change the flow of a river, create a mountain and make lightning strike everywhere he wants. He controls the elements as if there were his own limbs."

Tsunade, truly impressed, nodded and turned towards the two combatants once again, there were more questions she wanted to ask him, but they could wait. Right now Yuurei was once again questioning Sasuke's motives for this fight.

"Why is proving your strength so important to you?" asked the blond mercenary.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Why was this guy so interested? Why should he care?

"My brother ruined my live!" yelled Sasuke as he rushed the other man once again and attempted to deliver countless blows to his opponents body.

"I'll prove that my suffering was not for nothing!" yelled Sasuke as he kept striking at Yuurei, who blocked all his blows with little effort and without moving from his position.

The spectators watched in awe at the fight before them. Yuurei had to be a kenjutsu master if he was able to block he Uchiha's swift attacks with such ease. Not even Tenten, a jounin from Konoha, who was hailed as a weapons-mistress all over the elemental countries would be no match for the mercenary.

The fight between the two combatants went on for a couple of minutes, neither gaining an advantage over the other. But most spectators could see that Yuurei wasn't really trying.

In the end Sasuke decided he had enough of the swordplay they had been having. Yuurei was clearly better with a blade than he was. He jumped back, sheathed his Kusanagi and went through a series of hand signs.

"Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu." Cried the Uchiha as he landed. This jutsu was one of the favourites of the Uchiha clan, It was agile, fast and powerful, surly something that Yuurei would have some trouble with. The only drawback of the technique was that it took a whole lot of chakra. But Sasuke was confident he would surprise his opponent with this, thus ending their spar.

The wave of flames sped towards the mercenary and was about to hit him. But then, without a word or any kind of movement from Yuurei, a wall of mud appeared between him and the flames.

After that something even more shocking happened. The flames did not dissipate, they packed together and formed three spears of fire all about 5 feet long. Within a moments notice the spears flew at Sasuke.

The Uchiha could not dodge in time, but he did not have to, all three of them missed him by a hair.

While Sasuke was not harmed by the flames they did prevent him from moving, as thay now stuck out of the ground besides him. It was that moment Yuurei appeared before him, with a speed the Uchiha would not be able to match with his current strength. The mercenary held his sword against Sasuke's throat.

"Do you yield?" was the cold emotionless question.

Sasuke did not have a choice, he was caught in a fiery prison with a blade that was about to cut his head of and he was low on chakra. He nodded.

Immediately the flames disappeared and so did Yuurei's sword. The mercenary turned and walked to where Gengetsu and the hokage stood.

Half way there he stopped and turned his head to look the Uchiha in the eyes.

"You wanted to prove that your suffering was not for nothing, but how many have suffered because of you?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment. Then a flash of anger crossed over his eyes.

"I don't care, they came between me and my goals. They got what they deserved." Yelled the infuriated Uchiha. Most people in the crowd where shocked to hear this. They would never have expected someone they thought could possibly be their next hokage was so selfish. Those who knew Sasuke were not that surprised, but they were still disappointed, they had hoped Sasuke had learned from his mistakes.

But the most surprising reaction was that of Yuurei. Killing intent came washing over all the ninja's in the clearing and especially Sasuke. The mercenary summoned his sword once more and was about to dash at the Uchiha and end his miserable live when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

Gengetsu had appeared behind him. Almost immediately the killing intent died down and most people were able to breathe again. The two mercenaries looked at each other and had one of their silent conversations. After a minute or, something like that, their little talk seemed to have come to an end. Yuurei just walked away and his sword disappeared to who knows where. Gengetsu stayed standing there, he was about to fight the Hyuuga anyway.

Sasuke, who had fallen to his knees when Yuurei's killing intent washed over him, shot Gengetsu a grateful look. He could not deny that the black clad mercenary had just saved his live. He was about to open his mouth the thank him when he was cut of by Gengetsu.

"Don't thank me Uchiha-san. The only reason a saved was because we are on the same side right now. If I'm honest, you do not deserve the title of 'shinobi'."

Sasuke shot him a glare and said. "That has noting to do with this. My reasons are my own, he overreacted."

"I can assure you he did not overreact. He was wanted to killed you for a couple of years now. I made him promise before your spar that he would not do that. But you made him almost break that promise."

Most eyes in the crowd as well as Sasuke's went wide.

"W… Why?" asked the surprised Uchiha. He was scared, though he would never admit it. Yuurei was clearly stronger than him, if he wanted him death there was nothing that could stop him.

Gengetsu stayed silent for a couple of seconds, as if he was searching for the right words. "His best friend has suffered greatly because of you and you don't even feel guilty because of it."

The clearing was silent for a moment. No one could deny that Yuurei a quite a good reason to hate the Uchiha, of course they did not want to see Sasuke get killed, but they were at least a little sympathetic.

"Who? Who is this friend?" asked Sasuke, who had gotten back on his feet again.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Was to cold reply from Yuurei who now stood next to the hokage.

If this day had not yet been shocking enough, it was now. Tsunade spun around with a speed even she did not know she had and immediately proceeded to ask the one question she wanted answered for the last seven years, only to be cut of by Yuurei.

"Questions about Naruto or his whereabouts will not be answered, so don't ask." Tsunade was visibly disappointed but she knew better that to press on for answers.

The 'Konoha twelve', with the exception of Sai and Sasuke, where about to jump the two mercenaries and force them to answer their questions. The same was true for their sensei's and most others who had the privilege to have known Naruto. But a quick gesture from the hokage calmed them all down. And she was right, if Yuurei and Gengetsu did not want to talk about Naruto there was no way they could make them.

Sasuke said nothing, he just stood there with an unreadable expression on his face before turning around an walking out of the clearing they were in.

* * *

It took a couple of minutes before the assembled crowd quieted down again and their attention focussed on Gengetsu and Neji. Who now stood on opposite ends of the clearing.

"Ready?" asked Tsunade.

Both men nodded, while Neji activated his Byakugan and with the final signal from Tsunade both men were of.

Neji immediately dashed at his opponent. If it was true what Gengetsu had told the hokage, then his weakest point was his taijutsu. So Neji's best change at victory was to get in his adversaries face and Jyuuken the hell out of him.

Gengetsu was not surprised when the Hyuuga rushed towards him. He would have probably done the same thing if he was in his opponents shoes. He had to think fast. He could not use genjutsus, the Hyuuga can see chakra, so a genjutsu was easily spotted. Using stealth and sneak up on his adversary was also out of the question. Neji would be able to see him coming from miles away. Ninjutsu would be his only choice. And luckily for him, every Hyuuga had a huge weak point he could take advantage of.

He instantly created five kage bunshins using the correct hand seals.

When Neji saw this he stopped in his tracks. Because the chakra was divided evenly amongst the clones he could not tell which was the real Gengetsu and which were the clones. A mistake, like attacking the wrong opponent, could cost him greatly, not knowing that stopping was the greatest mistake he could make.

Gengetsu used his opponent hesitation to his own advantage and had his clones encircled the Hyuuga. As soon as that was done he and the clones rushed through a set of hand seals.

They simultaneous cried out "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu." When they finished and they all shot a stream of fire from their mouths. How he managed to do that trough his mask was a mystery for all.

Neji saw only one option and started to rotate and expelling chakra from all his tenketsu.

With a cry of "Kaiten." A sphere of chakra formed around him, protecting him from the flames.

Eventually the fire died down and Neji halted his Kaiten. When he came to a stop he saw that the six mercenaries around him had repeated the same series of hand seals and were about to launch the jutsu again.

"Do you give up?" asked Gengetsu.

It was a question that surprised the Hyuuga. This fight had just started, neither combatant had laid a hit on the other, so why was he asked this?

"Why should I yield? We are just starting." Asked Neji as he shot the mercenary that just asked the question a glare.

"Because I have won. You focus solely on taijutsu and to win you have to get to me, but as soon as you move from your position you are open for my clones to fire a katon jutsu at you. Your only defence against it is your Kaiten, which I know takes a whole lot of concentration and chakra. I know you can tell that I have more chakra than you, so I can keep going for longer."

Neji's eyebrow twitched. He was right, the masked bastard was right. He could not do anything. He only had three options. He could rush at his opponent and get fried. He could keep using his Kaiten to shield him from the flames and run out of chakra sooner or later. Or he could give up. In the end the result was the same. Gengetsu would win.

He hated this, he was beaten so easily. And it wasn't even because his opponent was far superior to him. No, every average jounin with a large chakra reserve would be able to pull this of. How could it be that no one had ever used this trick on him in all the time he has been a shinobi? He vowed to himself to learn some ninjutsu to make sure something like this never happened again.

"I give." Said Neji quietly, while letting out a sigh.

The crowd was stunned. They would never have guessed that one of Konoha's top jounin would be defeated this easily. They were also disappointed. They had come here in the hope of seeing a good fight from the two most renowned mercenaries in the world. But both of them defeated their opponents without brute strength, flashy jutsu's or amazing skills. Then again, the fact that they did not need to says a lot about their abilities and the spears of fire were kind of cool. But the spectators were still disappointed.

Tsunade was the first to break the silence.

"Well… that was interesting." Said the hokage. "If both Yuurei and Gengetsu would please follow me to my office we can get this show on the road."

And with those words the crowd dissipated and everyone went on their own business.

* * *

Both mercenaries now sat in the hokage's temporary office opposite of the desk of the hokage.

"I can say that you certainly do your reputation justice. I would never have guessed that you would be able to deal with my shinobi this easily." Said Tsunade as she reached into one of the drawers of her desk, finding it empty, reminding her that she was still out of sake.

"Well, your mission can wait till tomorrow seeing as you just arrived today. I have had a tent prepared for both of you, the tent number is B20, it's in the south part of this encampment. It should not be hard to find it."

The only reply she got from the mercenaries was a curt nod. But she did not expect much more, she was somewhat getting used to the silence that followed them around.

"You will probably not be going on mission together, unless there is a mission of grave importance. You, Gengetsu are more suited of assassinations and you, Yuurei are better suited for large scale battles and destruction. Are you okay with this?"

Another nod was all she got.

"Okay, then everything is settled. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, I have one." Said Gengetsu with a quiet tone like always. "When we go on mission, do we go with a team?"

"Not always, I figure you operate best if you are alone or with each other, but if I can not send both of you I will find a replacement from my own shinobi. Your taijutsu skills are not that good I believe, Gengetsu-san. That means that I will have a taijutsu expert accompany you if the mission calls for it."

"And if we go on missions with a larger team. Who will be the team leader?" asked Gengetsu.

"I see no problem of making you team leader in that case. But it depends on the mission and if my shinobi are willing to listen to your orders."

Gengetsu nodded and said. "Thank you, that was all."

Tsunade smiled and said, "Okay, then we are done. Here are your hitai-ate and welcome to our forces." As she handed them two forehead protectors with black cloth.

Both mercenaries stood up, grabbed the hitai-ate's, tied them around their left arm and turned to walk out of the office.

But before they could take three steps Tsunade called out to them.

"Wait!"

As they turned around then saw Tsunade walk around her desk and stand before them.

Then with a move that shocked both of them, the hokage dropped to her knees and looked up at them with desperate eyes.

"Please, I know that you do not want to talk about it, but please tell me. Uzumaki Naruto. Is he still alive?"

They stayed silent for a short moment. Before Yuurei answered quietly.

"Yes." And with that they both turned around again and left the office.

Tsunade remained seated in the floor for a short time, while a truly relieved smile adorned her face and a lone tear of happiness streamed down her cheek.

After a while she stood up, whipped her tears away and returned to her chair at the desk.

Once seated she asked a question to seemingly no one.

"What do you think, Jiraiya?"

"I have a theory, but you are not going to like it." Replied the white haired man, who now sat in the windowsill

* * *

**Hi there, I am really, really sorry it took so long. But I'm in some deep shit concerning my education and when I mean deep shit I mean a endless black hole of something unholy with a nasty odour. So the only remedy was alcohol (No, I'm not an alcoholic, and also not one in denial) and taking a vacation. And that's why I have not updated.**

**But enough about that. I hope you liked this second chapter. If not, leave me a review and tell me how a can improve. (Yes, you can also review if you liked it, I won't eat you. I'm out of ketchup.)**

**The last thing I want to address was a review I got from a reader who did not like Naruto's outfit. He suggested that I made him look more like he is in the anime/manga, with short hair. But I have a reason for making Naruto look like he does. There are four defining features Naruto has. His bright bleu eyes, the whisker marks, the seal on his stomach and the spiky blond hair. No one in the anime/manga has these, except Minato of course. (Except for the seal, no one has that.) **

**The Naruto in this story does not want to be recognized by anyone. His mask hides his eyes and facial markings, the bandages over his abdomen hide the seal. But I did not want him to wear a hat or hood to cover his hair. So I grew his hair out and solved that problem. As for the rest of his outfit. Who is the most badass longhaired person we know? Sephiroth of course! The silver haired SOLDIER is one of my all-time favourite characters. So I gave Naruto his clothing, with a change of colour. I think it suits him.**

**I hope this answers all your questions about this subject.**

**Never hesitate to ask me any other question you might have.**

**Till next time,**

**19.1.25**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ghost from the past**

Chapter 3

"Tell me anyway, I doubt it can be any worse than this mountain of paperwork." Said the hokage as she looked at the pile of document before her.

"I think I have figured out the identity of our two guests. If you think about it, it really isn't that hard." Said the perverted hermit is he walked into the office and took a chair on the other side of the desk.

"And how is this bad news. It sounds good to me, something we can use as leverage against them if we need to. Maybe even use this to extract more information about Naruto from them." Replied the hokage as she raised an eyebrow.

"It is bad news, not only because the counsel is going to give you a hard time if I'm right and word gets out. I won't even mention the paper work, but if I'm right about Yuurei's identity and he wants to keep it hidden at al costs… well knowing that hurts a whole lot more."

Tsunade had a surprised look on her face. She could understand getting berated by the counsel and of course she knew there would be paperwork involved. Though she did not like it one bit, she could overcome it. It's not like it is anything new. But why would it hurt to know who Yuurei is?

"Why would it hurt? I don't get it." Was the logical question she asked.

Jiraiya let out a tired sigh. He really did not want to tell her what he thought, but he had to.

"I will start with Gengetsu. What do know about him?" Began the toad-sannin. "We know some of his skills, how he looks, with a mask at least and that he appeared after Akatsuki fell. His cloak greatly resembles that of the Akatsuki and considering he joined Yuurei shortly after Akatsuki's demise, I believe he was once a member of that organisation. Akatsuki had only one member with black haired, tided into a ponytail. That member also happened to specialize in ninjutsu, stealth and above all genjutsu. That member was Uchiha Itachi. His nickname means 'crescent moon' and the moon on his mask seem like a reverence to his favourite technique, 'Tsukiyomi' (grasping moon), this only is more proof for my theory."

Jiraiya paused shortly to see if Tsunade was still following him. She was.

"I know Itachi was supposed to have died with the rest of the Akatsuki, but his body was never found. Then there is something Yuurei said earlier when he was speaking with Sasuke. He said and I quote: 'I can tell you right now, you are now match for me or Itachi.'. He made it sound like Itachi is still alive. In the end, there is no doubt in my mind that Gengetsu is Itachi." Said Jiraiya as he finished his little speech.

Tsunade sat back in her chair. This day was getting more shocking by the second.

"I think we should keep this between us and make sure Sasuke does not find out. As long as we do that we should be okay. Itachi or not we need him in this war." She halted for a short moment, before letting out a small giggle. "Well, I would have never thought that Konoha's second most infamous nuke-nin would join our forces again. But please tell me Yuurei isn't Orochimaru in disguise."

"No he isn't. If I'm right it's even worse…"

The silence that followed greatly annoyed Tsunade.

"Out with it man, I haven't got all day!" yelled the hokage in the hope of speeding her ex-team mate up a little.

"How many people do not only have the strength, but also the motivation to go up against the Akatsuki?" asked Jiraiya.

Tsunade had to think about her answer for a short while.

"As for strength, Yuurei is the only person that comes to mind. I'm not sure if even Itachi or Gengetsu or whoever he is could do it. And as for motivation… the Akatsuki were not very active at that point in time, the only threat they formed was probably against the jinchuuriki… now I think of it, a jinchuuriki with one of the more powerful bijuu should be strong enough as well to take on the Akatsuki, or at least give them a very hard time."

"Correct and how many blond jinchuuriki with one of the more powerful bijuu do we know?" asked Jiraiya.

"Only Naruto of… course…" answered Tsunade.

The 'what the fuck' look she gave Jiraiya after that would have been quite funny if it were under different circumstances.

"Are you kidding me? Really, are you fucking kidding me?" yelled Tsunade.

"I'm sorry, but it's the only thing I can think of." Said Jiraiya as he tried to look away. It didn't matter how hard he tried, he could not look at his best friend as she broke down in front of him.

Tsunade slumped back in her chair, quietly sobbing.

"W-why…? Why would he hide from us? Are we not his friends, his… family?" asked the hokage while tears streamed down her face.

"I guess his banishment hit harder than we thought. Or something happened during the time he was away." Answered Jiraiya.

They sat in silence for something that seemed like hours.

"But why did he come back, if not for us? I doubt it's the money, Kusa and their allies would pay just as much." Said Tsunade after a long wait. Though she had her emotions under control now, her voice still sounded broken.

"Honestly… I have not idea." Replied Jiraiya with a sigh.

* * *

Yuurei and Gengetsu walked quietly towards their tent. This particular district, in the south of the encampment, was mostly reserved for the jounin. The shinobi were divided by rank over the four districts the encampment had around the central clearing where the hokage's office and hospital could be found. In the north you would find the ANBU, this was also where the hokage and kazekage resided. The western district was occupied by chunin and a handful of genin that had travelled to the frontline. In the east you would find mostly storage barracks and the sleeping quarters of the medics and other supporting personnel.

The silence around the two mercenaries was broken by Gengetsu.

"Why did you not tell her who you are? She seemed to have missed you a lot." Said the black clad mercenary with a calm voice so only his partner could hear it.

Yuurei never slowed down or looked at his companion. He did not say anything for a minute or so.

"I do not want anyone to know that I'm here. And would she still miss me if she knew what I have become?" he finally responded.

"I'm sure she would. I don't think she is the kind of person to be guided by such narrow-minded believes."

"You are way to optimistic." Grunted Yuurei, who really did not want to talk about this.

"And you only see the worst in people." Replied Gengetsu with a voice that almost sounded smug.

"Can you blame me?" asked Yuurei, who increased his pace and walked away from his partner. Thus ending this conversation.

"No." said Gengetsu only to himself. He then quickly sped up to keep up with the other mercenary.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far from the current location of the two mercenaries, a large group of jounin had gathered around a campfire. They did this every night for no particular reason other than to have some fun and meet up with their friends during this war.

Amongst them was one Hyuuga Neji, who did not participate with the talking and drinking most others around had indulged themselves in. His mind was still focus on the spar he had with a double S-ranked mercenary a short while ago.

There was only one thing in his live he was truly proud of and that was his mastery of the Jyuuken style. He had spent all his live trying to perfect it. He was hailed, even by the main house of the Hyuuga, as the best. But suddenly some mercenary comes along and his whole world was shattered. He had spent so much time training his Jyuuken skills and had become so confided in them that he figured he did not need anything else. And that was his downfall. Now he had to work his ass of again, only because he was to stupid to realize that specialization was a bigger danger than sub-par skills.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when an elbow hit him in the ribs, hard. It was his team-mate, Tenten.

"Quit brooding, you are starting to look like the Uchiha." this caused most of the gathered shinobi to chuckle. Most of the jounin did not hold much love for the Uchiha since his defection. And when their friend got banished because of it they a lot of trouble keeping their anger in check. When the Uchiha returned they sort of forgave him for his actions, but he would never be a real friend or something like that. The only people that actually hung out with the Uchiha, if Sasuke hung out at all, were Sakura and Kakashi, his old team-mates.

Neji glared at his female companion. A remark like that was way below the belt. Neji was one of the people that hated the Uchiha far more than others. Ever since Naruto had beaten him in the chunin exams all those years ago and opened the Hyuuga's eyes, he held the blond in the highest regards. And after the hokage told them the truth about Naruto and Kyuubi, his respect only grew. Uzumaki Naruto was truly a remarkable individual, always looking out for others and always happy. Sasuke had taken that away and Neji could never forgive him. (_No, Neji is not gay for Naruto. But I think Naruto was the only person he respected and then the thing that Naruto represented was taken away. That's got to hit hard. It would be like Chuck Norris confessing to the world that he always had a stunt-double do the roundhouse-kicks._)

"Oh come on Neji. It's not that bad to lose once in a while. And besides, the guy is way more powerful that all of us. Everyone would have lost." Said Tenten.

"It's not that I lost. It's how I lost, everyone of you could pull it of as long as you know the kage bunshin no jutsu and a offence ninjutsu." Replied Neji, while looking into the fire.

"She's right Neji, you should not let it get to you. Learn from your mistakes and be glad the flaw in your style was discovered in a spar and not on the battlefield." said Kakashi, who sat a couple of meters away.

Neji just sighed. Tenten saw this and decided to change the subject a little, seeing as Neji did not want to talk about his defeat.

"But tell me, what do you guys think of our two new comrades?"

The twitching of a humongous eyebrow alerted everyone that there would be an eruption of youthful shouting within the next minute. Thus all the shinobi, except a young jounin who could not use chakra, turned away from aforementioned huge eyebrow and braced themselves.

"THEIR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN MOST BRIGHTLY!" yelled a eccentric jounin in green spandex, who jumped up, struck a strange pose and showed his white sparkly teeth.

"REALLY GAI-SENSEI?" yelled a younger looking clone of the first jounin, who had the same sparkles of youth when he smiled.

"YES MY STUDENT, OUR YOUTHFULNESS IS ONLY SMALL COMPAIRED TO THEIRS!" replied Gai.

"NO GAI-SENSEI. MY FLAMES HAVE DWINDLED!"

"FEAR NOT MY LEE, WE SHALL WORK HARD TO MATCH THEIR FLAMES OF YOUTH!" yelled Gai, who saw his students youthfulness decline.

"REALLY, GAI-SENSEI?" asked Lee.

"YES, WE SHALL HAVE OUR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH ONCE MORE!"

"OH, GAI-SENSEI!" yelled Lee as youthful tears of joy streamed down his face.

"LEE!" yelled Gai, with the same tears.

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Lots of hugging and screaming followed.

(_Just so you know, I love these two, they crack me up, so don't be surprised to see more of these moments in the future. They are the second most funniest thing in the manga/anime. Jiraiya being number one of course. Damn you Kishimoto for killing him!_)

Luckily for those around them, they have gotten used to the spandex duo's unique behaviour and could easily ignore them and continue with their own conversation.

"They are supposed to be super powerful, but we did not get to see a lot if their skills in the spars. I was a little disappointed." Said the pink haired girl known as Sakura.

"The fact that they did not have to show us anything flashy tells us maybe even more." responded Asuma, smoking as always.

"Why do you think they care so much about keeping their identity hidden?" asked Chouji, who was happily munching on some barbeque flavoured chips.

"They are probably missing nin. If not, they did manage to piss of a whole lot of people the last couple of years, I'm sure there is a whole waiting line of shinobi somewhere waiting to kill them. They might hide who they are to protect their family and friends, or something like that." Said Kakashi, while he discreetly tried to gets his little book from his backpack.

"Yeah, your right. I just wish they weren't so secretive, it gets me on edge." Replied Chouji.

"Maybe I should pick their brains a little." Said Ino, the mind walker of the group.

"No you will not. I don't even want to think about what would happen if they found out you did that." Said Kurenai, who sat besides the blond girl.

Ino gulped, the older woman was right, getting on either mercenaries bad side would be very bad for your health.

"Well, I still can't believe is how big the gap between them and us is. I mean, they look like they are the same age as us, but that is were the similarities end. They are way more powerful then I could ever hope to be" Said Sakura.

"What I can't believe is that they actually know Naruto!" yelled Kiba.

A comfortable silence settled over the assembled shinobi as they all recalled memories of their blond friend.

"I don't know why I am surprised. Naruto could become friends with everybody, so why not two mercenaries." Said Kakashi, who quickly put his porn away when he noticed the intense glares from the gathered kunoichi.

"Yeah, your right, he always that special power. I don't know how he did it, but he even managed to build some kind of friendship Zabuza, the demon of the hidden mist." Said Sakura.

"And what do you think about Gaara. Naruto turned him from a insane mass murderer into a loved and respected kazekage. The kid could really change people, that's for sure." Said Temari, who sat besides a sleeping Shikamaru and jabbed him with her elbow. This caused to sleeping Nara to wake up and murmur something about troublesome blondes.

"You make it sound like you were his friends." Spoke a cold voice behind them.

When they turned around they saw Yuurei standing there, with Gengetsu a few feet further. The jounin and red clad mercenary looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. The silence was broken by Gengetsu.

"I'm heading for our tent. Don't kill them." Said the mercenary in black as he continued his journey.

Yuurei did not give him a response what so ever, he just glared at the shinobi before him through the eye slits in his mask.

They stared at each other for a minute before Sakura spoke up.

"What would you know, you weren't there."

Yuurei gave a sinister chuckle, not unlike the Snake sannin he killed a year ago.

"I know a lot more than you think, Haruno."

Sakura was taken back by that statement. And how did this guy know her name? Apparently her facial expressions made it quite clear what she was thinking.

"How do I know your name? Well, Naruto told me all about you, that's how."

The pink haired girl glared at him, but said nothing.

"Yes, he told me all about you and the rest of his team. He told me how you used to hit him for everything he did, even if he was just trying to help you. Or how he risked his life countless of times to save yours, but you never even thanked him."

"He also told me about Hatake…" Yuurei said as he nodded in Kakashi's direction. "…how he always put the Uchiha first, never teaching him anything. You claimed you could not teach him because he did not understand the basics. Wasn't it your job to teach him those. No, you just wasted your time on that weak minded Uchiha, who would betray everyone for power sooner or later. And you even went as far as teaching the bastard the 'chidori', a technique he would later ram through Naruto's chest."

"As for the rest of you, you call yourselves his friends. But none of you even tried to get to know the real Naruto. You only saw him as the dobe, the dead last. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

The group sat in a stunned silence for a moment, until Kiba jumped and growled in the blond mercenary's direction.

"I don't know what your problem is, but we are his friends and I would shut the hell up if I were you."

Yuurei chuckled again. "You wouldn't even recognize him if he walked up and pissed this fire out." indicating the campfire they had gathered around with his hand. "And as for being his friends. Where were you when he was banished. None of you stood up for him. Some friends you are."

Kiba stopped glaring, but remained standing. What could he do or say. The mercenary was right. They did not help Naruto when he needed them most.

Yuurei spoke up one more time. "Tsunade, Jiraiya and Iruka are the only people in Konoha that can call themselves his friend. You do not have the right." And with that he turned around a walked away. Leaving a shocked group of jounin behind, even the spandex duo was to stunned to rant about the benefits of youthful tight-fitting body-suits.

It took them a couple of minutes before someone spoke up.

"I'm glad Sasuke wasn't here, then this would have been really unpleasant." Said Chouji. Most others just nodded, not bothering to give a verbal response. The rest did not respond, they opted to think about what Yuurei had told them in silence. Kakashi and Sakura belonged to that group. Yuurei words had hit him hard, especially because they were true. They did treat Naruto badly.

They were pulled out of there thoughts when a chunin walked up.

"Excuse me Hatake-san. Your presence is requested by the hokage." Said the chunin to the masked jounin.

Kakashi nodded in response and stood up. After nodding to the group, a casual way of saying goodbye, he walked away. Leaving the others behind in silence.

* * *

When Kakashi walked into the hokage's office he saw that he was not alone.

After greeting Jiraiya, who leaned against to wall to his right, Kakashi walked over to the hokage's desk.

The woman behind to desk looked tired, very tired. But not because of exhaustion, she looked more like she had been on a emotional roller-coaster all day.

"You called for me, hokage-sama." Said Kakashi, when he noticed that Tsunade was deep in thought and had yet to notice his presence.

"Huh… oh yes, Kakashi, thank your for coming." Said the hokage as she was pulled out of her thoughts. "I have a mission for you."

Kakashi nodded in response and awaited his orders.

"This will be a solo mission, however, you are allowed to get someone, preferably one of your friends, to help you, but you can not tell them that this is a mission. Do you understand?"

"Sort of… I can as for help, but only in a casual, amicable way." Answered Kakashi, who was a little confused, it did not make a lot of sense to him.

"Yes, that's right. You will h…" began Tsunade, only to be interrupted by the copy-nin.

"Why?"

"Sorry?" asked the hokage as she raised an eyebrow.

"Why can I not asked them to join me on this mission outright? Or even better, why do you not assign more people to complete it?"

"Discretion is critical, the less people that know, the better." Answered Tsunade.

Kakashi nodded, he still did not understand it completely, but not many thing in the world of ninja are logical.

"Your tent is located close to the one Yuurei and Gengetsu are residing in, so you are bound to run into them sooner of later. Your mission is to find out why they decided to join our alliance. I will leave it up to you how you achieve this, as long as you get the job done without alerting either Yuurei or Gengetsu."

Kakashi looked at the hokage as if she was crazy. "I don't think that it is a good idea to assign this mission to me."

"And why is that?"

"The others and I ran into Yuurei not to long ago. It seems that he not only detests Sasuke, but the rest of us as well for how we treated Naruto. He told us, with words that left little to the imagination, that we failed as friends and have no right to speak about Naruto as such. He also told us that only you, Jiraiya-sama and Iruka have that right."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, thinking about what she just heard.

"Try it anyways. It's not like we have much to choose, but if Jiraiya is right I believe Yuurei would sooner speak to you than anyone else."

Kakashi nodded again and walked away, even more confused then he was before.

"Wait Kakashi!" yelled the hokage. "Make sure Sasuke stays away from both Yuurei and Gengetsu, especially Gengetsu."

"Hai, hokage-sama." Said Kakashi before he walked out the door, leaving the two sannin behind.

"This is going to be a lot harder then we first though. How will we ever get him back in Konoha when he seems to hate almost everyone?" asked Tsunade of her white haired companion.

"He always was stubborn." Mused Jiraiya. "But we will get through to him." He said as he put a hand on Tsunade's shoulder.

* * *

The tent Yuurei and Gengetsu shared, was not very big or luxurious, but could easily house four people and was almost high enough for Yuurei to stand upright.

When he entered the tent he saw that Gengetsu already had claimed the left side and was laying on a camping bed. He also saw one on the right. He quickly walked over, took his coat of and layed down. He looked over to the other mercenary and saw that he had his back turned to him. The black clad mercenary was probably asleep. That was good, Yuurei did not want to go into some long discussion about his actions.

But luck was not on his side this evening.

"Killed anyone?" asked Gengetsu quietly.

'_Goddamnit.'_

"No." answered Yuurei abruptly. Hoping the other nin would drop the subject and go to sleep.

"You know, I don't understand you. First you try your hardest not to be recognized and then you tell Tsunade loud and clear that you are still alive, which will cause only more conflict know she knows you are still out there. Why did you go through all the trouble in the first place if you are going to tell her anyway?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do, Naruto."

"Idiot! Do not call me that. What if someone heard you?"

"We can both sense chakra signatures and we both know that there is no one within thirty feet from us. So no one will hear us if we don't talk to loud."

"Fine." Said Naruto as he rolled over, turning his back to Gengetsu.

"You still have not answered my question. Why did you tell Tsunade?"

Naruto sighed, he was not getting out of this one. "I don't know… I guess I did not want to see her so sad or something like that."

"You still care about her, don't you?"

"Maybe…"

"And Kakashi and the rest. Do you still care about them?"

"No!" yelled Naruto, who was now getting pissed off.

"Yes you do." Replied Gengetsu. "Why else would you go up to them and rant about their unfair treatment of you. Deep down, you still care and you still want their acknowledgement."

"No I don't! I hate them, they were never my friends, they dropped me like a rock after Sasuke left. I do not care about them!"

"You do. You may hide it, but they are still your precious people."

"Just drop the subject, Itachi." Said a annoyed Naruto.

"No I will not. You have problems and you need help." Responded Itachi.

"I do not have problems. And is that why you forced me to come here?"

"Yes, I think your friends can help you and you do have issues."

Naruto did not respond to that.

"You may hate me for this, but I know I'm right. You need them. You can deny it all you want, but you need them."

"Shut up, Itachi." Said Naruto inaudibly.

Itachi did just that, he knew that pushing Naruto too much would not help, but at least he was getting trough to his friend now. Before their little collaboration with the Konoha forces the blond would not even listen when he mentioned anything Konoha related. There was still a long way to go, but he hoped that in the end he would have the old Naruto back. He wanted to happy, carefree Naruto back, not the emotionless Naruto who cut himself of from the rest of the world because he was to afraid to be betrayed again.

With that thought he checked if his masks was securely attached to his face, closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

**And there you have it, a new chapter. Hope you liked it and tell me if you did (or did not).**

**Do not expect the next chapter to come out as quickly as this one. One day I can write 5 chapters in an hour (not really, I do have a life), the next day I can't seem to put a word on paper for three months. You were just lucky this time.**

**Yes, Jiraiya is one smart mofo, for figuring it out. But tell me. Who had no idea that Yuurei and Gengetsu are Naruto and Itachi? I didn't really try to hide it and the clues were kind of obvious, so I don't think I fooled anyone.**

**And I'm trying to write longer chapters, but I will just have to see if I can pull it of. I usually decide what I want to write before I start and then write a chapter. I usually end up writing chapters with around 3500 words (I do have a 3000 word minimum). But I will try to make them longer, just bare with me. I think this chapter is a step in the right direction, but I will try to make the next chapter even bigger.**

**As for Naruto's sword… yes it is indeed the same as Sephiroth's. I don't know why… I just like it and it goes well with Naruto's fighting style.**

**I hope that the last part explained Naruto's strange behaviour a little bit. I'm sure a lot of people were confused about that. But basically, Naruto still wants to be acknowledged by these people. But stuff happened that had made him think he can not be loved and he has cut himself of from everyone (except Itachi). **

**But that is what this story is about. 'Finding acceptance/love/peace' is the main theme here. Of course there will be plenty of other things to keep you interested.**

**Hope that answers some concerns.**

**Till next time,**

**19.1.25**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ghost from the past**

Chapter 4

It had been three days since the arrival of Naruto and Itachi and Tsunade felt like crap. The more she thought about the whole situation, the more depressed she became.

Yuurei had to be Naruto. Everything that Jiraiya had told her seemed to fit. Naruto would be one of the few people that could take on the Akatsuki. And the fact that the only person that can wear a bright red leather outfit is someone that can wear a obnoxious orange jumpsuit confirmed her fears as well.

Naruto, the person she viewed as her own son, did not want to have anything to do with her.

What happened to him? Did the banishment from Konoha hit him that hard or has he finally succumbed to his burden. Has he finally grown to hate everything around him, something the kazekage has done many years ago. Ironically enough, it was Naruto the saved him, but who will save Naruto? Especially if he refuses to talk to anyone besides Itachi.

She had hoped that by sending the Uchiha away on some lame solo mission, that he is way overqualified for, Naruto would have no choice but to talk to someone in the camp, preferably herself or one of his old friends. But her plan failed when Naruto didn't. He devoted himself to training or just sat around, observing the things around him. If he actually was in the camp, most of the time he would disappear to somewhere and would not been seen till her returned at night. Even then he was hard to find.

The only time people actually saw him was when he entered of exited his tent or when he got himself some food. No one did see him eat, but that was expected since he would be required to take of his mask.

Tsunade sighed and reached for an other bottle of sake. It was the only thing that could take her mind of Naruto, but it did not seem to help a lot.

"How are you holding up?" asked a familiar voice from behind her.

She turned to see Jiraiya sitting in the windowsill like he always does.

She turned back to her sake bottle before answering. "Not good. I just can't understand what happened to him. He always was so happy and always smiling. There is nothing left from that old Naruto if Kakashi's daily reports are accurate."

"I don't think Naruto ever was as happy as he seemed to be. How could he, in a village that hated his guts. I think he just kept his emotions under control and with the help of the few friends he had, he managed to get by."

Tsunade did not say anything for a short while. She never thought about Naruto's situation that way. She sort of took him for granted and thought the kid really was as happy as he seemed. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised. Naruto always was a notorious trickster. So why not make an entire village full of ninja believe in something that isn't there.

"He should have told us, we could have helped him." She finally said.

"That is not something he would have done. He never wanted to bother others with his burden, especially the people he cherished."

"Your probably right, but even if he choose not to tell us we should have seen it and aided him. We failed him, we were one of the few people that knew of his burden and still cared about the boy and we did not help him." Said Tsunade quite angrily.

"There is no point in getting mad over mistakes made in the past. It will not help him now anyway."

Tsunade sighed, the white haired bastard was right as always. "What do we do now, Kakashi isn't really helping much. He can't get close to Naruto and the information he does give us is not very helpful." Said the hokage while she reached for the sake again.

"The reason Kakashi is having difficulties with this is because Naruto leaves the camp during the day. If we can get him to stay Kakashi may have more luck."

"I don't think I can just tell him to stay here all days, he is not a Konoha shinobi anymore, he is just a hired mercenary ,he does not have to listen to my orders. He can choose to ignore them and there is nothing I can do about that."

"Maybe assigning Naruto and Kakashi a mission together would help."

"That sounds like a good plan, but I don't think Naruto will like it."

Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully, Naruto would skin the cyclops alive if they would send just the two of them on a mission. "It would be a good idea to send one or two people with them."

Tsunade nodded and grabbed some files from a drawer in her desk. The files contained the profiles of all the shinobi under her command. After skimming through them she took out three profiles of shinobi she thought would be perfect for the job. They had decent skill that would complement Naruto's own, thus creating a strong, solid team. They also would not give the blond the impression that something fishy was going on.

* * *

Naruto looked out over the Konoha military camp. He sat on the edge of a cliff not to far away. Ever since Itachi left on a mission two days prior he has been alone. Tsunade did not yet have any missions that would get him out of the encampment, so he sat upon the cliff-edge to get away from things.

He liked it up here, it reminded him of all the times back in Konoha when he would simply sit on top of the hokage monument and observe the people below. With no one to bother him.

It was that exact same reason why he now found himself overlooking his temporary home. The other people currently living in the encampment do not glare at him or make any snide remarks when he walks by like they used too, many years ago. How could they? They do not even know who he is. His masks makes sure of that. However that same masks causes an other problem. It creates mistrust. The Konoha and Suna shinobi only see a mysterious mercenary, someone who kills for money. It should not be a real surprise to him that most shinobi keep their distance from him. That bothered him, he knows he should ignore it but he could not. The uneasiness that he saw in the eyes of the people around him reminds him to much of the old days. Days he does not wish to remember.

Unfortunately his moment of peace was disturbed by an unexpected visitor. Then again, Naruto expected him to visit him sooner.

"I'm surprised that you and Gengetsu actually came here. I thought you hated Konoha for what they did." Spoke a soft, yet strong voice from behind him.

"It surprises me as well, it was all Gengetsu's idea. For some reason he thinks it's good for me or something. I don't get it and I can't wait o get away from here." Answered Naruto, as he turned around to look al the kazekage.

Gaara off course knows that it is Naruto behind the mask, but he does not know who Gengetsu is. Both Jinchuuriki hated the Akatsuki, so Naruto can't tell his friend that his partner was once a member of that organisation. Even if Itachi had his own reasons and goals to do so.

"Thanks for not ratting me out to anyone by the way." Said Naruto as he turned back to look over the encampment.

"Your welcome, my friend." Replied Gaara, who sat himself down besides the blond.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Gaara broke it.

"Are you here because of his orders?"

"No, he just ordered us to end this war. Like I said before, it was all Gengetsu's idea to come here and join forces with Konoha and Suna." Answered Naruto. "Oh, and the money is nice as well." He quickly added as an afterthought, with a small smile Gaara did not seen because of the mask.

"Any idea why he wants you to end this war? I mean… he usually has a really strange way of doing things. He tries to reach his goals by doing something completely different and confusing."

"Yeah, he does, and like always I really have no idea what he wants. We just follow orders like always."

"It doesn't matter, I'm just glad to see you again. It has been four years since we met for the last time, you should have visited." Said Gaara.

"You know I can't just walk into a hidden village, it would cause a whole lot of unnecessary trouble."

"You are right off course, but do you really think I have not told the guards at the gates of Suna to let you pass. After saving my live from Deidara and Sasori it is the least I could do." Said Gaara, with a small hint of irritation in his voice. Well for someone as devoid of emotions as the kazekage a little emotion is a lot, and a irritated Gaara usually means someone around him will have some problems with his or her health.

Naruto looked at Gaara for a few seconds. He never expected the once homicidal Jinchuuriki do make such a big deal out of this. But now he thought about it, it is actually kind of logical. Even if Gaara is the kazekage these days, Naruto probably still is his only friend. Naruto knew exactly what it is like if the people you thought were your friends drop you like a brick when you need them the most.

"Your right, Gaara. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'm glad you at least wrote a letter once in a while, even if I could not write back since your are always on the move."

"Naruto chuckled a little. "Yeah, it still amazes me how many bounty-hunters and nuke-nin come after us, hoping to defeat Gengetsu and myself and collect the bounty on our heads. Fighting the first hundred was fun and all, but after that it became annoying, so we just try to stay one step ahead of them. You would think that our classification in the bingo-book would scare them of, but I guess not."

"I used to know someone who did not care about rank either and would always foolishly charge a superior opponent head on." Said Gaara, with a small smile which scared Naruto a little bit. He did not know Gaara could smile, maybe it had been to long since he visited his friend.

"I knew someone like that as well… to bad he's dead." Said Naruto with a sad tone in his voice.

"No… he is alive somewhere… He is just… lost…" replied Gaara, while searching for the right words. When he found them he continued. "He is lost in his own despair and needs to find the correct path to take. Or someone else needs to find him and show him the way out."

"I wish it was that simple."

"It is that simple. You just need to open up to others. It seems like the only people you have talked to the last couple of years are Gengetsu and me!" Said Gaara, a little forceful.

"I can't! They will just betray me again! You know what has happened, do you really think they will accept me now?" yelled Naruto back.

"They will accept you once they understand why it happened and they will not betray you. They may have made mistakes in the past, but they really miss you. Temari told me you overheard their conversation the other day, so you know I'm right."

"I just can't, okay."

"You should. If you continue to wallow in self-pity you will never find happiness." Said Gaara, as he stood up and walked away without saying another word.

Naruto did not say anything either. He remained silent and observed the Konoha encampment from the cliff he sat on. He thought about what Gaara had told him, but he could not agree. His friends left him before, even if they miss him now, they will just dump him again as soon as they find out what he has become.

* * *

A silent shadow moved from tree to tree, steadily getting closer to his targets.

The three Kusa-nin did not know he was there or what danger they were in. It was unfortunate for them that they were chosen to patrol the border with Hi no kuni. It was a simple mission, just stay in the region they were assigned to and report back as soon as something happened. They could not have known that the hokage would send Gengetsu after them.

Itachi cursed silently. He hated his mission, he had to travel 75 miles south from the encampment to kill three chunin and maybe take a document with their orders or patrol route back with him. It is a mission your average ANBU, jounin or team of chunin can do, but the hokage had send him. And he hated it.

Not only was this mission not much of a challenge, it was utter ridiculous. The hokage did not even know if these three chunin had some kind of information with them. To send someone like him was a insult in itself. But that was not enough reason to get distracted. His targets may be chunin, their kunai still had a sharp edge, Itachi could get hurt if he would not pay attention to what he is doing.

He stood with his back against a tree, only ten feet away from the three chunin. Two of them were sleeping next to a small campfire they had lit in a small hole they had burrowed. While he did not show it, Itachi was kind of glad that his targets had at least read the textbook on how to make a campfire that could not be seen by the enemy. Maybe they did have some skills and maybe the third chunin that sat against a three, keeping guard, would be able to see through the genjutsu Itachi would cast and this mission would be a little more fun.

But it was not to be. The chunin that was supposed to guard the other two easily fell for the illusion Itachi conjured. Of course this did not surprise Itachi. The genjutsu he used was created to be inconspicuous, for it did not change anything for the target. Once the jutsu was used the enemy would only see the world like it was the moment the illusion took effect. This allowed Itachi to walk up to his three targets and slit their throats without the guard noticing. Itachi could have used one of his more flashy genjutsus, but when you are playing with kunai you can not get careless and let the enemy know something is going on. That's what separates a good shinobi from a great shinobi. A good shinobi will complete his mission, but will do so in a careless fashion, with a lot of flashy moves that drain a lot of chakra and possibly get hurt in the progress or even worse, their sloppy behaviour may put the lives of their allies in danger. A great shinobi, will complete the mission as well, but without wasting chakra, recourses and lives. It's to bad that great shinobi are quickly forgotten after they died and good shinobi are remembered even after death.

Now Itachi had disposed of his targets he searched through their belongings, hoping to find something he could take back with him. He eventually found a piece of paper that stated that the three chunin were assigned to patrol this region by the kusakage himself. Itachi smirked as he read the mission orders. The arrogance of this 'kusakage' astonished him. Only the leaders of the five most powerful hidden villages had the right to be called a kage. While Kusa had become a big player in international politics in recent years, they were not that strong or important. Itachi would enjoy killing this arrogant buffoon when the time comes.

With his mission completed Itachi headed back to his temporary home. He still had no idea why he was selected for this mission. There was no reason why an jounin or a ANBU could not do this. It seemed like the hokage wanted to get rid of him. But if Tsunade did not want him, she should not have hired him. And even if Konoha and Suna had no use for him anymore, they would not send him to kill three chunin, if they wanted him dead they should have him assault Iwagakure on his own. It did not make any sense. The hokage just wanted him out of the encampment for some reason. But why… unless…

Itachi smirked behind his mask. Maybe he should get lost in this forest or something.

* * *

When Naruto returned to his tent that evening he found a note from the hokage, telling him to report to her office at 0800 hours next morning for a mission. He would finally be able to leave the encampment, if he was not wearing his mask the people around him would see the small smile that graced his face. Then again, if people actually saw his face he probably would not be smiling.

He put the note in his pocket and entered his tent and went to bed. If he would have a mission the next morning it would be a good idea to get some rest.

The next morning Naruto arrived at Tsunade's office at the designated time. While he did not smile anymore, he was still happy that he could leave the camp for a short while. He knocked on the door and entered after he heard Tsunade tell him to come inside. His content demeanour disappeared as soon as he opened the door and saw the other occupants of the office. He would not be going on this mission alone.

Before the hokage's desk stood four people. One was his old sensei, Hatake Kakashi. The bastard was reading his porn like always. Some things never change, just like females will always be offended by the piece of filthy literature in the copy nins hand. This day was no exception, the four kunoichi present in the room were all glaring daggers at Kakashi. The silver haired jounin did not seem to notice this or simply did not care. Probably the latter, he really hasn't changed over the years. He still looked the same, not a day older than when Naruto left.

Naruto looked at the other occupants of the office. It did not come as a surprise to him that Tsunade sat behind her desk. She looked different, not her normal confident facade but a more downtrodden and depressed version. This off course did not stop her from giving the book in Kakashi's hand a fierce look. Next too Kakashi stood three kunoichi, giving the male jounin an equally scary look.

The first was someone he would recognize everywhere since pink hair certainly is not common. Sakura had changed through the years. No longer was she a weak fan-girl, a pitiful excuses for a shinobi. Well maybe she still was, but she certainly did not look like it. She had grown into a beautiful woman, though Naruto would never admit it. He had gotten over the crush he had for the pink haired girl very quickly once he left the village seven years ago, once it became clear to him what a bitch she really was. Naruto figured out her role for this mission quite fast, if he was supposed to go on this mission with a team, it was only logical to take a medic-nin with them. He did not need medical attention, even if someone could hurt him his wounds heal within a matter of minutes.

According to the bingo-book Sakura has become one of the best medics in the world, second only to Tsunade herself. Naruto was a little impressed when he found out, he had thought she would follow the Uchiha as a faithful lapdog till the day she was killed on a mission. But it seemed like she actually made something from herself. Of course he would have to see how much she really changed, she may still be as Uchiha obsessed as she was during their time as genins.

Naruto recognize the next kunoichi from the bingo-book as well, but he would have known who she was without it, for he immediately noticed the two typical buns in her chestnut brown hair. Just like Sakura she had become quite an eye-catcher over the years, even if she did not change al that much. According to the bingo-book she had not change her fighting style since her first met her. That off course does not mean she was weak, far from it actually. She perfected her abilities and has become one of the worlds most renown weapon masters.

The last person in the office was also someone Naruto knew while he lived in Konoha, Yuuhi Kurenai. She looked the same as he remembered her, not that he could remember her very clearly. They didn't really speak to each other, he only knew she was the sensei of Kiba, Shino and Hinata and was known as a ice-queen or something like that. But all that, did not really matter to him then and it certainly does not matter now. He only cares if her skills are good enough for the mission they would be taking and according to the bingo-book they probably are. She is know throughout the world for two things, her immense skill in genjutsu and her looks. Naruto only cared for the first. Genjutsu was the only thing he truly sucked at. If it wasn't for the fact that he can automatically see through every genjutsu there is he would have died a long time ago. And casting a genjutsu of his own. Don't even get him started, it will not work. It will blow up in his face or something like that. Yes, he sucked so much at genjutsu that his illusions just exploded. That takes talent.

Overall it seemed like Tsunade had put a good team together. With Naruto and the Copy nin leading the assault, Tenten and Kurenai providing some long ranged support and Sakura as the medic for those that could get injured it seemed like the perfect team for almost every mission. To bad Naruto really did not want to be here, especially with these people.

"Ah, Yuurei, thank you for coming and seeing that Kakashi is on time as well we can get started." Said Tsunade once she was done glaring at Naruto's old sensei.

Now that Naruto thought about it, Kakashi really was on time. In the old days he would have hid under Tsunade's desk, waiting for the end of the world, but these days he knew the world would not end that easily so he stayed where he was. And now that he thought about it, Kakashi probably was on time because there was no memorial stone for him to visit. To bad, a small part of him had hoped that Kakashi really has changed since he left.

"Yes, hokage-sama, you have a mission for me?" asked Naruto.

"That is correct." Said the hokage, as she reached for a scroll on her desk. She unrolled he scroll, showing the five gathered shinobi a map of what appeared to be a mountainous area of what once was Ame no Kuni.

"As you can see this area, that one point in time belonged to Ame and now belongs to Kusa, is mostly uninhibited. Except for this small village." Said Tsunade as she pointed to a spot on the map. "Our spies in Kusa recently discovered that this small village has an unusually high number of shinobi stationed there. Further investigation revealed the reason. This small mining town is Kusa's main source of iron ore. If we manage to cut of Kusa's supply of iron they can no longer make weapons and armour and we will be one huge step closer to victory."

All shinobi before the hokage could see the logic in that.

"Your mission is to stop the mining progress indefinitely. I don't care how you do it as long as you get the job done. This mission is classified as S-class and will probably take you a week to complete. Do you accept?" asked Tsunade.

"Hai." Came the unified response.

"Good, Yuurei, you will be team leader for this mission. Make sure my shinobi come back unharmed and leave your personal difference of opinions concerning certain situations out of this."

Naruto nodded. He may not like them, but they are fighting on the same side during this war, so he would protect them. And she did not have to tell him that he should forget his distaste for Kakashi and the others during this mission. Such feelings have no place on a battlefield.

"Now I suggest that you get to know each other and leave as soon as you can. Good luck."

And with that they left the hokage's office. All except one, Kakashi stayed behind.

"Yes Kakashi?" asked Tsunade as she raised an eyebrow.

"Hokage-sama, I do not think it is a wise choice to appointed Yuurei as team leader. Not only does he not know the others like I or Kurenai do, but he also seems to hate us for the whole Naruto situation."

"You are right, Kakashi. But Yuurei and Gengetsu prefer to work alone or with each other. I sort of promised them that they would be team leader if they situation came up because they will only take orders from me and possibly Gaara. I'm sorry but you will just have to listen to him, but a want a full report on his actions once you return."

"Hai, hokage-sama."

"And don't worry about his problems with you and the others. He promised he would make sure no one would get harmed and that he would not bother you about Naruto during this mission. He never breaks a promise, I know that for sure." Said Tsunade with a small smile that Kakashi did not see.

"I hope you're right, hokage-sama." Said Kakashi as he bowed and left the office to meet up with his new team.

* * *

Kakashi found his team in the same clearing Yuurei and Gengetsu had their spars with Sasuke and Neji in. The three kunoichi stood nervously before Yuurei, who stood there with his arms folded over his chest, waiting for Kakashi.

As soon as Kakashi entered the clearing Naruto turned to face him.

"Good, now you're here we can begin." Said Naruto with a emotionless voice that send chills up the spines of the other four shinobi.

"I will make this very clear beforehand. I don't like you and I'm quite sure you don't like me either. However, for this mission I will put my personal feelings aside and I expect you to do the same. If you follow my orders no one will get hurt. Is that clear?"

The four shinobi nodded quickly.

"Good. Now, I know who you are from the bingo-book, but that does not mean I know all there is to know. I want each of you to give me a short introduction of who you are and what your skills are." Naruto once again got a short nod from all other gathered shinobi. "Good, Hatake, you will start."

"Hai." Said Kakashi as he stepped forward. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, jounin from Konoha. My specialities are ninjutsu and assassination. I have over a thousand jutsu in my arsenal and a lot of combat experience. I also have the Sharingan which allows me to analyse and copy the moves of my opponents."

Naruto nodded, for him it was just a formality since he already knew most things, but he had to keep up appearances.

Kurenai was the next one to step forth. "I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, also a jounin from Konoha. I specialize in genjutsu and strategy. Like Kakashi I also have high combat experience and a large number of jutsu's, mostly genjutsu's, I can use."

Tenten was next, she spoke in a more cheerful tone than her predecessors, but it seemed to suit her. Naruto remembered her as a rather cheery individual. "My name is Tenten and I'm a jounin. I specialize in weapons, all kinds of weapons. But I prefer ranged combat with kunai, shuriken and the like."

Naruto nodded, once again it was nothing new for him. He had read it al in the bingo-book and he remembered most things from when he still lived in Konoha. The only thing that he really wanted to know was Tentens family name, since he never learned it in the past and the bingo-book did not mention it. Now it turns out she doesn't have one. A little strange but Naruto does not care that much to force him to ask her.

Sakura was the last to give an introduction. "I'm Haruno Sakura and like the other three I'm jounin ranked. I specialize in medicine and healing jutsu's. I have perfect chakra control which allows me to use my jutsu's at maximum efficiency and I can also use it to strengthen my muscles. This allows me to use the same immense physical strength as Tsunade-shishou."

"Good." Said Naruto once Sakura was finished. "It seems that the bingo-book was surprisingly accurate when it comes to your profiles."

The four shinobi frowned. Did they just do this for nothing?

"It only is customary that I tell you something about myself. I am known as Yuurei, I won' tell you my real name. I'm classified as a triple S class shinobi in the bingo-book. I have specialized in kenjutsu and elemental ninjutsu. Though I have a special skill that allows me to control the elements as if they are a extension of my own body. You could probably compare it to the kazekage's skill when it comes to controlling sand. I can not cast a genjutsu if my live depended on it but atleast I can automatically see through every genjutsu that may affect me, friendly or hostile."

"Is that some sort of kekkei genkai?" asked Tenten.

"Sort of, but don't ask any more about that, I won't tell you."

"Have you ever been on mission with a team? From what we know you mostly work alone or with Gengetsu. How do we know you are up to the task as team leader?" asked Kakashi, while shooting the mercenary a suspicious glance.

"Do not concern yourself with those matters. I have been on team based mission when I still lived in my home village. So I do have enough experience with teams. I have not been a team leader before, but I know I will perform my task as you should expect."

"You belonged to a hidden village once? That means you are a nuke-nin." Said Tenten, who was a little shocked that Konoha would require the aid of one, possibly two missing nins.

"That is correct, though I did not leave by chose. I had a difference of opinion with some very powerful people and I was forced to leave." Said Naruto. He had anticipated these questions sooner or later. So answering them now would get them out of the way and would not create an even greater mistrust in the team.

"How come I don't know you? I know the bingo-book like it is my icha icha and I have never seen a jounin nuke-nin from any village with your description in it." Asked a apprehensive Kakashi.

"I was listed in the bingo-book under my real name once. But I was taken out a couple of years ago, they probably thought I was dead or something like that. And I wasn't jounin ranked when I left. Technically I'm a genin." Said Naruto, while a small smile played on his face. He really liked to tell people that for some reason.

The four Konoha shinobi were taken aback by the irony of it all. The most powerful ninja in the world was a mere genin. If only the leaders of Yuurei's home village knew who they kicked out of the vilage for something Yuurei only calls a difference of opinions, they would probably kick themselves somewhere where the sun doesn't shine.

"Do you have any more questions?" asked Naruto after a few seconds, snapping the other shinobi out of their daze.

None of the Konoha shinobi said something.

"You sure, this will be your last chance. I will not answer any more questions after we leave here."

"Why do you aid Konoha and Suna during this war? You could have gone to Kusa just as easily." Asked Sakura, after she thought about the whole situation a little bit.

"I have my reasons, but I will not tell you. My past is something I will not tell you about."

Kakashi was a little disappointed. This was the question he must have answered for Tsunade. It seemed like his personal mission would continue for now.

Sakura then asked another question he wanted answered, but more for personal reasons than anything else.

"How is Naruto?"

Naruto did not say anything for a short while. Giving the girl a angry glare,. How dare she inquire that?

"I will not answer that." He finally said with a bit of venom in his voice.

"What! Why not?" yelled Sakura, who now looked really pissed of. She did not care who this guy was, she just wanted to know how and where Naruto was.

"There are multiple reasons, but mostly because he wants to have nothing to do with you." That shut the pink haired jounin up.

When the four Konoha shinobi remained quite for a few seconds Naruto asked again if they did not have any other questions.

Kurenai answered him. "We have many questions for you, but you most likely would not answer them, so asking them would be useless."

"You're right, I guess." Said Naruto thoughtfully. "Well then we are done here. We will leave in an hour. Prepare yourself for a week long mission an meet up with me in this clearing once your done."

* * *

Meanwhile, Itachi was cursing his own ass. Maybe trying to get lost was a really bad idea. This should not happen to someone like him. He is the second most feared shinobi in the world, he killed is whole family, he was a member of the most renowned criminal organisation in recent history and he helped with the assassination of the snake sannin. He travelled these woods on his own more times than he can count, hell, he practically lived here for the past twelve years. He is not supposed to get lost, it does not fit his badass image.

He screamed in frustration. He hated this, he hated himself for doing this.

If he ever got back he would not leave his tent for three days.

* * *

**It has been a while, a very long while, since I last updated this story. I hope it was worth the wait though.**

**If your are confused why Naruto suddenly is so nice to the others, do not fear, there is a very good reason. The reason is that Naruto has put his personal feelings aside for this mission. And if that isn't reason enough I have a second one. One of the courses I take at university is called 'Organisational behaviour', it's like psychology for companies and stuff like that (it really sucks). Any way, thanks to that course I know what a good team-leader is supposed to act like. And that is what Naruto is doing. Of course are there many more types of leadership, but I think in this case Naruto's form will work the best. By creating a sort of friendly environment the team will perform way better than when they are fighting all the time or do/can not trust each other. Remember, lives are at stake here.**

**That was all.**

**Till next time,**

**19.1.25**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ghost from the past**

Chapter 5

He may not like his present company, but he was glad to be out of the Konoha camp. He could not stand being around Konoha shinobi, it reminded him to much of times long past. Times he wanted to forget about. Of course he was at the moment in the presence of four shinobi from the previously mentioned village. Four shinobi he knew very well, but still only four. It beat the hell out of an entire army.

It had taken him and his team two days to reach the village that was their target and he now knew was called Tekkou. It had only taken them so long because they had to be careful while travelling. It would not have done them any good if their enemy discovered them while they were trying to reach their destination.

When they had arrived, they had first searched for a suitable place to put up camp. This had proven a little more difficult then he had anticipated. There were hardly any trees or other kinds of vegetation in the rock filled landscape that could provide some kind of camouflage. Luckily the problem was quickly resolved when he used his skills to control the elements, in this case earth, to make a modest, but well hidden cavern for them to stay in. He made the entrance look like one of the many rock formations that could be found in the area, so it would not stand out.

The looks of utter amazement on his companions' faces would have been funny if he did not wanted to get as far as possible away from them.

In the end he figured that maybe it was better to hide in a cavern instead of behind some trees. A campfire would be less noticeable in any case and they had a roof over their heads. So he did not pay any more thought to the lack of plant life and swiftly got his stuff in order. Not that he carried a lot of equipment.

It was a couple of hours before nightfall and Naruto currently sat by the entrance to their new hideout, waiting for his subordinates to finish unpacking their things and preparing themselves for what was to come. For the moment he was just enjoying the silence. It would probably be the last time he could.

A few minutes later Kakashi walked up to him.

"Yuurei-san, we're ready. What do you plan to do now?" asked the copycat, who was still a little annoyed that Yuurei was made team leader for this mission. In his mind it made no sense, even if the mercenary had demanded it. Tsunade should know that a leader who does not know his team will never function as good as a leader that does know his team. Orders were orders however and he always follows his orders.

Naruto got up and walked further into the cave to where the others were.

Once there he sat down and signified to the four other shinobi to do the same.

"As I see it, we've got two alternatives. Assault Tekkou and destroy everything we come across."

This earned him four doubtful looks.

"Or we systematically take out everyone of importance in the village and destroy all the important buildings once we are done. While the first option would be easier the second option is better. There could be a document of some importance we could bring back. The chance that any of you get injured is smaller as well. Not to mention the fact that a large battle would certainly attract the attention of other enemy forces."

Naruto was interrupted by Tenten.

"Who do you mean by: 'everyone of importance'?"

"I basically mean all shinobi forces in Tekkou. This may sound difficult but I believe we will most likely encounter a lot of genin and chunin and probably a handful of jounin who call the shots. Kusa's most skilled nins will most likely be stationed at the frontlines, far away from here." Explained Yuurei.

"And don't worry, we will not be fighting them just yet. Reconnaissance is the first thing on our agenda. I want to know everything there is to know about Tekkou. Where the shinobi are stationed, who the most powerful shinobi are, who and where the leader is, which buildings are important to the mining operation. And everything else you can think of. So tomorrow we will merely be observing the village and two of us will try to infiltrate Tekkou."

"Why only two of us? We would be able to obtain all the information we need a lot quicker if all of use get in there and scout the place." Asked the pink haired kunoichi.

"You are right, but there are two problems with your idea. Firstly, the five of us would certainly alert some of the nin in the village. Simply put, two people are stealthier than five. Secondly, not all of us are capable of infiltrating the village. They would certainly recognize me as an enemy if I walked in there looking like I do, it does not matter if it's by day or at night, stealth isn't my strong point. And I can't use a Henge because I can not suppress my chakra enough not to catch someone's attention. You Haruno-san are the medic of this team and therefore can not be put at risk, so you are out as well. Because of these reasons I thinks it is best if only two of us scout the village from the inside."

"Who do you suggest do that?" asked Kakashi, not that there were many options.

"I think it's best if you and Yuuhi-san do this. I believe the two of you have the most experience with these kinds of assignments."

Kakashi nodded in response, he had been thinking the same thing.

"Sorry, there is one thing you said that I don't understand. But it is kind of unrelated to this mission." Said Tenten as Naruto turned to her. He did not say anything, but Tenten took that as a sing to continue.

"You essentially told use you have no skills concerning stealth and infiltration at all. But did you not earn your name for being able to appear and disappear on a battlefield. Like a ghost?"

"That is true. It indeed isn't a very good name. I only earned it because of two simple facts. Appearing on a battlefield is kind of easy if no one expects you and when those on the battlefield are focussed on the enemy they can see. And disappearing is very easy as well if you are the only one alive. People gave me that name because of those two things and I have seen no reason to change it. I don't really care about it that much anyway."

At the end of Yuurei's explanation the four Konoha shinobi did not know if the should laugh at the stupidity of the mercenary's name. Or to move themselves a couple of feet away from him after they heard how easily he could talk about destroying entire armies.

"If that's all I suggest you get some rest, we will start tomorrow morning. I'll take first watch." Said Yuurei.

None of his current companions complained.

* * *

He had not left his tent for two days, just like he said he would. He could not stand being outside in the forest anymore. During the three days he had been lost, every woodland critter had opposed him. Squirrels pointed at him and laughed, rabbits looked at him like he was Kisame. Heck, even the trees seemed to be making fun of his ill sense of direction.

There was one squirrel in particular that had followed him for hours on end. Out of all the forests inhabitants that squirrel must have been the most annoying. Itachi could still hear the quiet laughter from the little furry animal.

Oh, how he detested everything 'foresty' right now. Of course he could not prove that the forest was mocking him. Every time he turned around to ask one of the woods inhabitants or a tree what their problem was they would act like they did not know what he was talking about. But he knew they were making a fool out of him!

Their taunting didn't even lessen as the days progressed. No, it seemed to be getting worse. Especially when he did not even find his own way back. It seemed karma would show him no mercy any time soon. He was saved by the youthful yells of two green-clad individuals.

To be saved by the eccentric behaviour of two people, who combined only seemed to have the intelligence of Kisame's sword, really did not suit him. He was Uchiha Itachi, double S-ranked shinobi, most handsome missing-nin ever and eternal badass. There should be no reason why he should be rescued by extremely loud screams about something that could even be of a sexual nature if he did not know any better.

Fuck karma, it seemed Kami himself was doing this to him. It would be so like that bastard to have fun at his expense.

Even now he could still hear the grass outside his tent whisper about him. He should just destroy them all. But randomly attacking trees or squirrels would probably be even worse for his reputation, so he just ignored them and stayed in his tent.

But after two days of solitary confinement he had run out of supplies and he needed to get some food.

He carefully opened his tent and looked outside. He could see them, just outside of the encampment, swaying in the wind and pretending to ignore him. Trees.

Swallowing his pride he stepped out of his tent and walked to one of the bigger barracks around the clearing in the center of the encampment. That was where the mess hall was located.

Half an hour later he had a stuffed stomach and was no longer extremely troubled by the forest and it's inhabitants. He knew who was at the top of the food chain anyway.

He decided not to go back to his tent, but to wander around the camp for a little while. He had nothing better to do and he had been here for more then a week now and still had not made any progress with his plan. The plan that Naruto knew nothing about and also should never find out about, because the blond would most likely kill him. Then again, Naruto probably already knew what he was trying to do. It was not like he was being very subtle with his attempts to make Naruto forgive his old comrades.

But that was only a small part of his plan. He wanted to make sure Naruto would return to Konoha. Itachi knew that even if he could make Naruto reconcile with his friends, it would not do the blond any good if he was forced to leave them again as soon as their agreement with Konoha and Suna ended.

That was the true reason why he was here. He did not particularly care for this war they were now fighting. Naruto was ordered to end it and as he true friend Itachi would help him out. And why not save his friend in the progress?

However, achieving all his goals would not be easy. Not only would he somehow have to convince Naruto to forgive those that had wronged him, but he also had to convince al lot of people in Konoha that his friend was a good guy. He would have to take it slowly, start at the beginning. But what was the beginning? Why had he not thought about that sooner?

The answer was a lot easier that he had previously thought. And after only five minutes of brainstorming he believed he had figured it out. The first person he would have to get on his side should be the person responsible for Naruto's banishment. The catalyst to his friend's misery. The person Naruto had seen as his best friend, maybe even as a brother. The person that left him and Konoha to satisfy his lust for power and revenge. His little brother, Sasuke.

Sasuke would probably not listen to him. The kid never listened to anyone. Especially now he had the power to justify his arrogant behaviour. Sort of. And then there was the fact that his little brother hated him. This would not be easy, but he would have to try.

Itachi stopped walking to search the area for his brother's chakra-signature. He quickly sensed it. It seemed Sasuke was by the training grounds. A small smirk appeared in his face, though unseen because of his mask, as he walked to where he could sense his younger sibling.

And all this time he completely ignored the fact that he was the reason for Sasuke going wacky and leaving Konoha.

Sometimes even the greatest geniuses can be idiots.

* * *

He had been a member of the ANBU forces for seven years. So moving swiftly, silently and most important, unnoticed through the surprisingly crowded streets of Tekkou came easy for him. He didn't even have to use some kind of genjutsu like Kurenai. Just some old fashion hiding in the alleyways, sticking to the corners and using the shadows to the fullest got him where he wanted to go. It was of course not without danger. The streets were crowded with shinobi and civilians. If he was not careful he could easily be spotted by someone and he would have a battalion of enemy nin breathing down his neck in no time.

But the same could be said for Kurenai whose genjutsu expelled a little bit of chakra. Even the smallest chakra signal could be picked up by a shinobi. This obviously depends for a large part on the skill of the shinobi who is supposed to sense it. If he or she was not trained properly or just wasn't any good at sensing chakra, a genjutsu user could walk completely unnoticed. And if said genjutsu user was as good as Kurenai only the most skilled jounin would be able to pick up some amount of chakra.

Kakashi didn't need or wanted to use genjutsu. He was more comfortable with sneaking around. Just like he does once a week with Jiraiya. Yes, he goes peeping with the self-proclaimed 'super pervert' every week. Of course no one besides the elder pervert knows of this. Kakashi still cared about his reputation after all. And Kakashi always made sure he did not get caught peeping with the pervert, he never liked to get beating into a bloody pudding. He did not understand why Jiraiya never fled with him, sometimes he suspected Jiraiya just wanted to cup a feel while he was getting beaten half to death. But he had not time to think about it now.

He and Kurenai had started their mission an hour ago. They had both entered the small, yet densely populated village from the east. After that they would make their way through the town and exit from the west and return to their campsite a couple miles to the south of Tekkou. Kakashi was supposed to take a more northern route, while Kurenai covered the south. This way they could cover more ground and get out of there sooner.

But this was proving more difficult than he or anyone else from his team had assumed. When they had arrived the day before it was late in the afternoon. They had quickly scouted the area and taken a swift peek at Tekkou and it seemed like a quiet little mining town. But as it turned out, it was a very busy and crowded village. This made it more complicated for the two jounin to get through without being seen, but it had to be done and it was to late to complain about it now.

He looked around another corner and saw two shinobi guarding the main entrance to a big office building, the biggest building ha had seen so far. Big meant important and guards meant it is really a building worth investigating. Kakashi applied some chakra to the muscles in his legs and rushed to an alley on the other side of the street. From there he had a better view of the structure that had caught his interest. He saw another two shinobi on the roof. They seemed to be chunin, if their outfits en chakra signals were any indication. The same went for the guards at the entrance and almost every other ninja he had seen so far. They were al positioned at strategic locations throughout the village. All were stationed on or around a building of interest, at a location where to could overlook the busier streets of Tekkou or at the outer perimeter of the village to keep a close looked at the surrounding landscape. But the latter were fewer in number than those positioned in the village. Perhaps they did not expect someone to attack this town since it was so far away from the frontlines.

_´A shinobi should expect the unexpected.´_ thought Kakashi. It was a wise lesson he had learned long ago and something the shinobi from Kusa should learn as well.

Besides around fifty chunin Kakashi had seen roughly twenty genin patrolling the streets and running small errands for someone. If he had to make a guess, he would say that the jounin that were in Tekkou were held up in the building he was currently looking at. Unfortunately he could not sneak inside en see if he was right. Entering the structure would force him to cross open terrain, scale a wall and enter through a open window. Besides the fact that there weren't any open windows because of the chilly weather, he simply wasn't fast enough to pull of that stunt. And he was not skilled enough with any form of genjutsu to use them in this situation either.

The team would just have to risk it when they attack the village. Not knowing what you are up against is very dangerous, but the same could be said for the shinobi in Tekkou. If Yuurei really is as good as his reputation foretells he should be able to crush everything that comes out of that building. Not to mention that the rest of the team consisted out of four of Konoha's strongest jounin, two of them we were trained by a Hokage no less.

After memorizing everything of importance there was to be noted from the building he continued his way through the town. He was done rather quickly, apparently there wasn't much more to the north side of Tekkou than the market district, which he had past through when he first entered the village, and the large office building. He hurried to meet up with Kurenai, who was waiting a small distance away behind a rock formation. Together they traveled to their hideout where they had to wait fifteen minutes for Tenten, Sakura and Yuurei to arrive. The three team members who could not enter Tekkou had traveled around the village in a wide arc to explore the surrounding landscape.

It wasn't long before they all sat down and reported their findings.

Kurenai was first.

"The southwest side if Tekkou is where most of the civilians live. There are very little shinobi stationed there. Only a dozen chunin in total, most of them positioned around the edge of the village. In the southeast I found the entrance to the mine. It's basically a two elevators that go straight down into the rock. One is used by the miners to get in and out of the mine. The other is used to haul the iron ore up before it's loaded into large carriages and transported to Kusa. The mine is heavily guarded. I counted a couple genin but at least twenty-five chunin and two jounin level shinobi. The two jounin seemed to be the ones in charge over the mine and the shinobi."

"Good, what have you learned, Hatake?" asked Yuurei.

"I entered Tekkou from the east and immediately found myself in the market district. There were about twenty genin running around and roughly fifty chunin. They were scattered around town. Most were guarding a building or the crowded streets of the market. And like Kurenai already said only a dozen guarding the boundary of the village. In the northwestern part of town I located a large office building. It was larger than any other building I have come across and more heavily guarded too. This is probably where most of the higher-ranking shinobi are held up and where the people who are in charge of Tekkou do their business. But I can not say that for sure, there is no way I can get inside without being discovered." Reported Kakashi.

Yuurei only nodded before he gave his own report.

"We have done a survey of the land surrounding Tekkou. It's mostly a barren terrain with some large rock formations scattered here and there. Except for the main road out of the village in the southeast there isn't much of interest in the area. There is however a large that was formed by a glacier along time ago. The lake located half a mile to the northeast of Tekkou. It's positioned on a higher ground than the village and the village itself lies in a valley. We will use that to our advantage when we strike tomorrow."

"What…! Tomorrow?! Your not serious, are you?" yelled Tenten.

"I am serious. We have seen all there is to see. We know where our targets are located and I know how we are going to take them out. I see no reason to prolong our stay in this cave. I may not enjoy being in the Konoha encampment. I enjoy staying here in enemy territory even less. Even if we do not know everything there is to know about that office building. We will still strike tomorrow."

"And how exactly do you want to do that? And how were you planning to use the lake to our advantage?" asked Kakashi a little skeptical.

"We will strike during the day, around noon, when the most civilians are out doing their business. We could strike under the cover of night, but the enemy nin would have the same cover. During the day the Kusa shinobi should not be able to use their more destructive jutsus because of all the civilians running around. We don't have that problem. Contrary to what I said yesterday I believe causing as much chaos as possible in the village is better after all. This will give the enemy less time and opportunities to regroup and form a defense after our first strike. We naturally can not allow them to contact their superiors outside of Tekkou, so the large office building is the first that should be taken out. That is most likely where all the communication equipment is stored. We must make sure no shinobi leaves the village as well. After all the shinobi are taken out I will shift the earth around the lake to make it flood the village. That way the mine can not be used again."

"You plan to drown all the villagers?!" asked an angry Sakura.

"No, by the time I let the lake flood the village, most civilian should have fled. Only those in the mine who could not get out in time, or the civilians who are still in Tekkou at that time and can not swim will be killed." Answered a stoic Yuurei.

"You are crazy. You can't do that." Said Sakura, while shooting the mercenary a fierce glare.

"I can and I will. They are associated with Kusa. They are our enemy's supplier of iron ore and thus can not be viewed as innocent. If you do not like that you can resign as a shinobi and go home." Replied Yuurei, who sounded a little irritated.

Sakura shut up after that. She detested the idea of killing so many civilians, but Yuurei did have a point. And even if he didn't, disobeying an order given to her by a superior was treason. She had no chose. Going home was out of the question and she wanted to stay at the frontlines so she could protect her friends.

The three remaining shinobi felt the same as Sakura, but they too had no choice in the matter. And they could not deny that Yuurei's plan was incredibly effective.

It was Kakashi who changed the subject back to what it should be.

"Our feelings concerning killing civilians aside. How exactly do you plan to attack the village tomorrow?"

"We will strike at noon. Yuuhi-san shall be positioned in the southeast of the village, close to the main road." Answered the blond mercenary while he turned to face Kurenai. "You are to make sure no shinobi leaves the village. You are the best suited for this task as your genjutsu can affect many enemies and over a long range."

Kurenai gave him a small nod, indicating that she understood what was asked of her.

"Tenten and Hatake shall assault the mine. Do not concern yourself with them mine itself, the flood will take care of it once you're done. Only attack the shinobi, preferably the jounin first, while you still have the element of surprise. Haruno shall provide you all with long-ranged support and medical treatment is the need arises."

The three jounin also gave him a sign that they understood.

"I shall strike at the same time as you. I will take care of the north of Tekkou. My first target will be what ever they use to communicate with the outside world. That means I will start with the office building. After I have killed every shinobi in there and have retrieved any document worth taking, I will head for the market district. If fifteen minutes have past since our first strike I shall release the water held up in the lake en submerge the entire town. By this time you should have killed every shinobi in the south of the village and have gotten yourselves to safety."

"Isn't fifteen minutes a little short?" asked Kurenai.

"Long fights against superior numbers are to be avoided by a shinobi." He did not say it out loud, but the four Konoha nin got the idea that he only meant them. "Strike swift and kill fast. If there are any shinobi left alive we will take them out afterwards, but I would rather not let it come to that. If it does happen, make sure they can not leave or call for backup. Do you have any questions?"

"I still don't understand why we can't do this in silence, preferably at night. If we do it right we can avoid fighting them altogether. Not to mention we avoid causing so much distress in the village." Asked Tenten.

"We are ordered to stop the mining process. We could indeed do that by killing al the shinobi using stealth and blowing up the mine afterwards. But the mine could be rebuild. If we flood the village it can't. Also most people will flee Tekkou in the disorder caused by our attack. So civilian casualties are lower then when we flood the village at night, when they are all sleeping. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good, any other questions?"

There were none.

"Then we will now retire for the night. I shall take first watch again." Said Yuurei, while the four Konoha shinobi shot him a questioning look. He had taken first watch the day before, but had never woken up one of them to take over. Yuurei had stayed up the whole night. They did not know that the mercenary can go without sleep for weeks and he just does not feel like sleeping at the moment.

"Something wrong?" asked Yuurei, who noticed their stares.

The shaking of four heads was his answer.

"Good."

And with that Naruto stood up and walked over to the entrance to their modest hideout, where he sat down and looked outside. Leaving his teammates to get some rest.

* * *

When Itachi walked onto the training ground it was not difficult to locate his brother. Not to far away from him the forest floor was filled with craters, everything that could burn was burning and several trees were snapped in two.

'_Hahaha, justice prevails, that's what you get for making fun of the great Itachi-sama.' _He silently cheered in his own mind. Those trees had gotten what they deserved.

He quickly ignored the destruction around him, even if he thought that the forest had earned it and really wanted to take some time to enjoy the carnage. Instead he focused all his attention on the person that stood in the middle of the clearing.

Sasuke was looking right at him. He had probably sensed Itachi coming in his direction. It was kind of funny how Sasuke had spend most his life training so he could kill him, but he could not recognize his chakra signature.

"Can I help you?" asked Sasuke with a very annoyed tone of voice.

"Yes, you can. I have a couple of questions for you." Answered Itachi with the emotionless voice that everyone expected from Gengetsu.

"And what makes you thing I will answer your questions?"

Itachi stayed silent for a little while, this would not be easy. Not that he had expected it to be easy, but it seemed that his brother hadn't changed his attitude in recent years. In the end he decided to simply ignore Sasuke and ask his question anyway, having a useless discussion would be fruitless in any case.

"Why did you return to Konoha after the fall of the Akatsuki?"

Sasuke did not see that question coming, and it took him a short while to get his act together.

"What is it to you?"

"I'm just curious. I know you left Konoha to obtain power in order to defeat your brother and four years later you return to the village you betrayed after your brother disappeared. I want to know why. What is so special about Konoha that you felt the need to return there after all you have done?"

"I still don't see why I should tell you anything."

"Because, while you may not understand what you have done, you have greatly hurt a friend of mine. I'm sure you remember him. His name was Uzumaki Naruto. You were his best friend and you tried to kill him and if that wasn't enough he got banished from his home because of you. It really crushed him. He even attempted to kill himself and if it wasn't for certain circumstances he would have succeeded. I want to know why, after all that you have done to him, you just go back to Konoha?" said Itachi, while still making sure that none of his emotions concerning this matter could be picked up from his voice.

Once again Sasuke was taken back by Gengetsu's words. He never could have guessed that Naruto would take his banishment that heavily. Somehow he had always thought the blond would charge straight into that new challenge with that goofy smile of his, like he had always done.

"I never expected that to happen." Said Sasuke quietly.

"That is not a answer to my question. Why did you return to Konoha?"

"I don't know."

"You do. And I want to know why."

Sasuke did not say anything for a couple of minutes until he finally spoke.

"I… I guess I missed Konoha."

"And why did you miss it?" asked Itachi still without any emotions, though on the inside he was silently cheering, he was finally getting somewhere.

"I guess I missed my own home and my friends, even if there weren't that many."

"And what about Naruto?"

"He was my rival and my first real friend, even if I could never admit that and I do miss him."

"That's good to hear, maybe you can help me."

"Help you with what?" asked Sasuke, but he would never get an answer as two ANBU appeared in the clearing he had used for a training exercise not to long ago.

"Gengetsu-san, Hokage-sama wishes to see you." said the ANBU with the bear mask.

"Is that so, I guess that I have no choice then." Said Itachi as he walked out of the clearing with the two ANBU.

"What do you want my help with?" yelled Sasuke before the mercenary got to far away.

Itachi stopped and turned around, looking at his younger brother.

"I have a friend I want to return home, but I can not do that alone, I will need some help."

After that he continued his walk to the Hokage's office. Leaving a silent, yet smirking Uchiha Sasuke alone in a ruined training ground.

* * *

When Itachi walked into Tsunade's office he saw that Jiraiya was there standing next to her. He wondered why, but did not care enough to ask, he probably acted like some sort of advisor for the Hokage. He also noticed that while the Hokage seemed to be filling out some paperwork, Jiraiya was looking kind of nervous.

"You wished to see me?" he asked when he stood in front of her desk.

"Ah, yes Gengetsu. I wanted to ask you if you could stay away from Uchiha Sasuke." Asked Tsunade as she looked up from her paperwork.

Itachi frowned, it was a strange request. He had not done anything wrong and Sasuke only seemed to dislike Yuurei. "May I ask why? We were just having a conversation about something that concerns us both."

"It's just that I don't want to lose any of my shinobi because of some useless argument." Said the Hokage with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"I can assure you Hokage-sama, I mean Uchiha-san no harm."

"I'm not entirely convinced about that."

"And why is that? " asked Itachi as he frowned behind his mask. What was she talking about?

"Let's just cut the crap." Said Jiraiya, who spoke for the first time and sounded angry. "We know who you are… Itachi."

Tsunade shot him an angry glare. She had hoped her teammate would keep his mouth shut. This could only cause problems.

Itachi remained silent while he reached for a kunai hidden in the sleeve of his cloak. He wanted to ask them how they had found out, but getting out of the Konoha encampment alive was more important.

He knew that one-on-one neither of the two remaining sannin was any threat to him and even if he would have to fight both of them he would still be able to escape relatively unharmed. Getting out of the Hokage's office was not really the problem. The really tricky part was waiting for him outside. Even though he was a double S-ranked shinobi and could hold his own against almost anyone and take out hundreds of ninja's at the same time. Fighting seventy-five percent of Konoha's forces was not something he was looking forward to.

Not the mention the shinobi from Suna who were also held up outside. The possibility that Gaara had forgiven the Akatsuki for what they did to him was small at best. There was no doubt in Itachi's mind that the Kazekage would crush him as soon as the redhead discovered who he was.

"So… what do we do now?" asked Itachi as he took a firm hold of the hidden kunai and prepared to bolt out the window as soon as things seemed to go wrong.

"Why are you here?" asked Jiraiya, who ignored Tsunade's displeased look.

"To set something right." Answered Itachi, still as emotionless as ever.

"So you are here to kill Sasuke." Accused Jiraiya while he reached for a kunai of his own.

"No, I'm not."

"Then why were to with him?"

"Since when is having a conversation forbidden in Konoha?"

"Don't fuck with me!" yelled Jiraiya, who looked like he was ready to strike any moment. "What is your business with Sasuke?"

"Simple, Sasuke can help me achieve my goal."

"And what is your goal?" asked Tsunade.

"It concerns Yuurei." Answered Itachi simply.

"Naruto… what about him?"

"So I was right. You did figure out who he was. Good, it will be easier this way."

"What are you talking about?"

"My goal is to get Naruto back with his friends and in Konoha."

His declaration was met by silence as both Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at like he had grown a second head.

Tsunade was the first one to regain the use of her voice.

"What…? Are you playing some kind of game with us?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then what the hell are you talking about?" asked Tsunade, who was beginning to loose control over her anger.

"I just want to reconcile Naruto with his friends in Konoha."

"Why?" asked Jiraiya, who only trusted the Uchiha as far as he could throw him. "Why would you concern yourself with Naruto's situation. Not to mention that it appears as if Naruto has no intention of returning to us."

"You are correct of course. It's not going to be easy. Naruto has come to hate Konoha and it's inhabitants. When he was banished he lost all faith in things like friendship, trust and loyalty. His friends had turned their backs on him and the people he thought he could trust were not there for him when he needed them most. It changed him, as you probably have noticed already. Luckily he is just cold and distant now…"

Itachi did not finish that sentence and it put the Hokage on edge.

"What do you mean? What's so lucky about that?"

"Never mind, it's not important."

There is something you are not telling us, isn't there?" asked the Hokage.

"Like I said, it's not important. Can we get back to the topic we were discussing?"

"No, I want you to tell me what has happened to Naruto right now or I will make you tell me."

Itachi let out a very uncharacteristic sigh. He really did not want to tell them about this, but it seemed that he had worked himself into a corner.

"After Naruto had left Konoha he tried to kill himself. And not just once, he tried it at least a dozen times. The only reason he did not die was Kyuubi, whose chakra kept healing his wounds over and over again. In the end al lot of things happened. I will not tell you what exactly, for it is not my story to tell. But 'Naruto' did die at that time and the man the world knows as Yuurei was born."

Once again the office was filled with silence. If only because Tsunade had just enough control over her emotions to make sure she did not turn into a sobbing mess.

Jiraiya recovered first from the shock left by Itachi's statement.

"If only I had known, I should have been there for him."

"You should have." Was Itachi's response.

Jiraiya shot him an angry glare, he was not in the mood to hear that.

"But that still does not explain why you are so eager to help him." Said Tsunade, who had recovered by now.

"That is because I owe him a lot. I had sort of become suicidal myself after I had fled Konoha and it was Naruto's companionship that has gotten me out of it." Said Itachi.

When he noticed to confused pairs of eyes he knew he had to give some more details.

"To understand it a little better you should know a few things. First, when I became a member of the ANBU forces when I was eleven the Sandaime Hokage refused to give someone so young as myself a mission outside of Konoha. So there were only two options. The first was to become a member of the Konoha defense force, the other was to become the personal guard and trainer of one Uzumaki Naruto, who was six years old at the time. I'm sure you are well aware of the mess that was Naruto's live back then. So I don't have to tell you he was in need of such protection. Out of the two choices the Sandaime gave me I choose the latter and thus became Naruto's guardian and sensei."

Itachi paused shortly to see if the two Sannin were still following his story.

"Anyway, I taught him things like chakra control ad some simple taijutsu moves, while I guarded him from some of the more foolish villagers. As time progressed I began to enjoin the time I spend with him and we became good friends, despite the age difference. Hell the difference in age really does not matter, even at that age Naruto acted more mature then most people in their twenties I knew. Guess a fucked up live does that to you. But as time went on I started to teach him more advanced techniques and had even gotten him another sensei. You see, at that time I still sucked at genjutsu. I did not have the Mangekyou after all. So I asked a friend of mine, Yuuhi Kurenai, to help us out once a week. The three of use became good friends and often hung out together after Naruto was done at the academy."

He once again halted his monologue when he saw the perplexed expressions on both Tsunade's and Jiraiya's face. He knew what they were thinking and decided to explain.

"Naruto has always been very good at hiding his emotions and skills. He never wanted people to know how strong he really was. He feared the village would only see him as a threat. So he created a whole different personality for himself. And that's the Naruto you and everyone else knew, the clown, the weakest person in his academy class and the idiot. Only the Sandaime, Kurenai and myself knew the real Naruto. A powerful and smart Naruto, but still cheerful, that was not an act. He always was that happy-go-lucky." Explained the Uchiha with a small smile on his face that could not be seen through his mask.

"You are lying. I would have noticed if he was stronger than he appeared to be. He could not have fooled me." Said Jiraiya.

"I'm telling the truth. How else do you think he mastered the Rasengan in a month?"

Jiraiya was taken aback. Itachi did have a good point. At the time he had thought that it was sheer determination and his genetic heritage that had helped Naruto with that jutsu. This was a far more believable explanation, though hard to accept for the old pervert.

"Nevertheless, things changed when I was fourteen. I had returned one night after I had some ramen with Naruto and Kurenai and noticed that the Uchiha compound was quieter than usual. I went to investigate and stumbled upon a meeting my father was having with some of the more influential members of my clan. To make a long story short, they had already done some horrible things and they were planning a coup d'état. They wanted to overthrow the Hokage en seize control over Konoha. One thing led to another and at the end of the night Sasuke and I were the only Uchiha left. After that I immediately went to the Hokage and explained what happened. He told me I did the right thing, but that he could not help me. I could not prove that my clan was planning anything and thus it would look like I had just slaughtered the clan for nothing. The village counsel would be in chaos if the Hokage turned a blind eye to the destruction of the one of the village's most prestigious clans. Every clan would start to fear for it's own safety. Leaving Konoha and becoming a nuke-nin was my only option besides death. So I quickly got some of my more important possessions together, left Naruto a note in which I told him what happened and left Konoha. I wanted to tell Sasuke personally what I did, but he was in some kind of trauma induced shock and leaving a note just did not seen appropriate. So I asked the Hokage to explain the thing to him, but as you already know Sasuke had other plans. To him the clan was more important than the village. I'm glad his believes seem to have changed in recent years. Though he still hates me and Yuurei who allegedly killed me."

For what seemed like the gazillioned time that afternoon Tsunade and Jiraiya were speechless.

"After I left Konoha I wandered around the elemental countries for a while. I did not really have any idea what to do. During that time guilt and shame overcame me. While I did the right thing, I did kill a large part of my family with my own hands. After a while I became so depressed that I just wanted to end it. Only just killing myself did not cut it. I wanted to be killed by someone else, only that seemed appropriate to me. I know, its stupid. Anyway, that's why I joined the Akatsuki. Being a member of their organization would ensure I would fight the strongest opponents in the world, Jinchuuriki and the like. For four years I fought and hoped I would finally be embraced by the cold clutches of death. It was then that my partner, Hoshigaki Kisame, and I encountered Naruto. It was a few weeks after he was banished. He had already gone through his own suicidal phase. Kisame attacked him, Naruto killed him and we had a rather meaningful conversation. When we were done I left the Akatsuki and Naruto and I disappeared. We trained for four years, then took out the rest of the Akatsuki, Orochimaru and his Oto forces two years later and another year later we came here. During that time Naruto helped me get over my own problems and now I would like to return the favor. That's the reason why I'm doing this and the reason I forced him to come here." Finished Itachi.

It took Tsunade and Jiraiya a couple of minutes to file all this new information away. When they were done Tsunade asked the thing the both wanted to know.

"What can we do to help?" The question was asked maybe al little too eager, but she did not care.

Itachi was glad to see they wanted Naruto back in Konoha just as much as he wanted it.

"The hardest things to accomplish are to get Naruto to forgive everyone in Konoha and to make sure that when that happens he can stay in Konoha. I'm working on the first, but the latter is not something I can do. There is no way the village counsel will listen to a nuke-nin like myself. You two however, can influence them. I know you could not change their minds seven years back, but I'm sure you can think of something."

"We will get it done, you just focus on Naruto." Said Tsunade immediately.

"Good, then I'll leave you now. I hope to hear some good news from you soon." Answered Itachi as he turned around en prepared to exit the Hokage's office.

He was stopped by Tsunade's voice.

"Itachi…"

The Uchiha turned to face her.

"Thanks." Was all the Hokage said. Itachi nodded in response and left the office.

Once outside he could not help a smile appearing on his face. Things were going well, maybe he could pull this of after all.

Unfortunately his smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, for ten feet before him sat 'it'. And he just knew it was making fun of him.

'_Damn that squirrel!'_

* * *

**I know, I know… I have taken way to long to update this. And I'm really sorry. I had to work during the summer and really did not find any time to sit down and write, but I'm done now, so I hope that I will be able to bring you the next chapter sooner.**

**I also would like to apologize to the people who do not like my version of Itachi. I kind of made him an idiot half the time. But I like him that way so I will not change it. This of course does not change that fact that he will kick massive amounts of ass when the time comes or that his serious side will be ignored in favor of comic relieve.**

**You may also have noticed that Naruto's childhood in this story deviates from the manga/anime. And there will probably more alterations from cannon in the future. Don't be alarmed, I'll use the same basic cannon-plotline as a foundation for this story, but change this a little along the road. **

**As for Sasuke's behavior… I do dislike his character, as it is and was in the manga, but that does not mean I can not change that. So do not expect him to be the same as he is in the manga right now. Though he will still be an ass in the beginning.**

**I would also like to apologize for any mistakes I made grammar or spelling wise. Please point them out to me so I can correct them. Though I will probably never learn from some of them.**

**On a more hilarious note. I have got my first flamer. The guy (I think, he's got kind of a manly name and all) left me three reviews telling me how much I and this story suck. He even thanked me afterwards for making him laugh with the suckiness (if this wasn't a word before… it is now) of it all. But the guy did read all four chapters of my apparently terrible story so I wonder who laughed the hardest in the end.**

**Till next time (hopefully not after 4 months),**

**19.1.25**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ghost from the past**

Chapter 6

Judging by the position of the sun he had about five minutes before he would launch his assault on the northern part of Tekkou. Naruto hoped that his teammates were ready and in position as well.

He was held up a mile outside of the village to the northwest behind a rock formation, and had a good view of the village

Even over the great distance he could make out the eleven chunin guarding the border of the town. All thanks to his enhanced vision, which was probably one of the better things he got that day seven years ago.

The chunin were spread out about a hundred feet from each other, but they did not seem to have a real system regarding their positions. They simply stood on the highest building they could find and scouted to surrounding landscape, well, most of them did. Some of them could not even be bothered it seemed. Naruto could not blame them however. Looking at the same empty scenery for hours on end would bore the hell out of every one. There was nothing to see but rocks, and the occasional bit if grass. Naturally a couple of the chunin had decided to talk to their colleagues, eat their lunch and one of them was taking a nap. Why wouldn't he? An enemy could be seen from miles away, theoretically.

Naruto summoned his sword to his side. The long blade was sealed inside a wristband with a complex seal engraved on it. It was a gift from Itachi, who gave it to him after he had complained about how annoying it was to carry the sword on his back. It wasn't the weight that bothered him, it was the fact that every time he tried to sit down or bend over the sword would be in the way of something. He even cut his own ass once or twice and that's when he decided he needed some way of sealing the blade with it still being within reach if he ever needed it. So Itachi had given him the wristband and Naruto was immensely grateful for it.

He examined his blade for a minute. It was just a normal six-foot long nodachi. It had no special powers or illustrious history. Just a normal sword, if only a little bit on the larger side. He preferred it that way, the extra reach came in handy during a fight and got in the way when not in a fight. Luckily he had the wristband now. He had gotten the sword shortly after he had left Konoha, it has been with him ever since.

Now that he thought about it, buying the sword had been Itachi idea as well. The Uchiha had suggested that Naruto needed a new fighting style. Using hundreds of kage bunshins would give away who he was way to fast, as would summoning frogs and using the rasengan. There were only so many people who could do that.

And so he bought a sword and had managed to master a couple of kenjutsu styles that Itachi had been able to analyze with his Sharingan. Seemed that those cursed eyes were useful after all. But he would never let Itachi know that. The bastard already was too cocky for his own good.

Looking back up at the sun he saw that it was time to strike. With the use of a familiar hand seal he summoned a kage bunshin. He almost never used that particular jutsu anymore. He normally did not need it, but in this case it would come in handy. The clone would be positioned by the lake and flood the town in fifteen minutes.

With a firm grip on his sword he prepared his assault. His target was the large office building. And that was a little problem. To get there he would have to get past the chunin guards. But they will sound some kind of alarm as soon as they see him. The shinobi in the office building would certainly call for backup with whatever kinds of communication devices they have in there. Naruto's best option would be to sneak past the chunin guards, into the tower and then let the blood flow.

Sneaking, actually being even remotely stealthy, wasn't his forte. It just does not suit him. He likes to be the center of attention, his bright clothes can attest to that, and Naruto likes to have all eyes on him. He has always been like that. Just as long as those eyes do not belong to Konoha or can see through his mask. He likes attention all right, but he also likes his current lifestyle and would like to keep it that way.

So stealth wasn't the way to go, which left him with only one option, speed.

Pumping chakra through his legs he launched himself from his hiding place towards Tekkou. Within seconds he was upon the one of the guards who hadn't even noticed a red and yellow blur shooting at him. His sword left a silver arch in the air as he cleaved the unlucky chunin's head of. Naruto did not even stop or look back at what he had done. Time was of the essence.

He just hoped the other guards simply did not notice or were to confused to sound the alarm.

A couple of seconds later he reached his target. He immediately noticed the two guards by the front door. According to Kakashi there were more positioned on the roof of the building, but those did not matter to him.

The two chunin guarding the door were dead before they even knew what had happened and Naruto had slipped inside. And that's when the chaos started.

* * *

They had split up with Kurenai not to long ago. The genjutsu mistress was supposed to stay behind and take care of every shinobi that tried to escape Tekkou and get help. This did not sit well with Kakashi. He knew Kurenai could take care of herself. But she would be on her own out there and no one knew what kinds of opponents she could come across.

Konoha shinobi rarely took on such assignments. Teamwork was the keyword that all of Konoha's tactics were based around. Leaving someone behind or sending a single shinobi against unknown forces almost never happened and if it did, it was heavily frowned upon and it only occurred in the most extreme situations.

Nevertheless Kakashi could not deny that Yuurei's plan was very good. There wasn't a alternative plan that Kakashi could come up with that was equally effective, maybe that was because Kakashi was a Konoha shinobi and valued teamwork more that the stoic mercenary. The mission they were given was unlike most others. So perhaps it required a strategy unlike the ones he was used to.

Now however was not the time to debate this. The entrance to the mine was within sight.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder to his young charges. Both Sakura and Tenten looked a little nervous. He could not blame them, he was nervous himself. He just know better how to mask his emotions, and the facemask and hitai-ate over his left eye helped as well.

"I have spotted two jounin over by the mine. They seem to be in charge over the mining operation, just like Kurenai told us. Tenten I want you to strike first. It would be great if you could take them out before they become a threat. If you fail to kill the I will step in and engage them." Said Kakashi.

"After that, Tenten, you will take on all the chunin and genin that appear. I will aid you once the jounin are taken care of. Sakura, you stay behind and cause as much chaos as you like. But be careful. You are the medic of this team, without you we will be in serious trouble. So do not engage any jounin or large numbers of chunin directly. It would be best of you could remain hidden at all time. Also keep an eye out for both Tenten and myself. We will be counting on your support if we are overwhelmed by the enemy."

Both girls nodded in response.

"Ok, prepare yourself. It is time." Said Kakashi as he lifted his hitai-ate and revealed his Sharingan eye.

Tenten took the huge scrolls of her back and prepared to strike, while Sakura put on her gloves.

"Good luck." Was the last thing Kakashi said before Tenten took to the sky and unleashed a massive amount of sharp pointy object towards the two jounin from Kusa.

* * *

Both jounin were taken by surprise when they suddenly saw a huge number of kunai, shuriken and other articles fly towards them.

One of them jumped out of their way, his partner was not so lucky and met his end. The one remaining jounin, named Inago, instantly drew a kunai to defend him. And not a moment to soon for he immediately had to use it to block a kunai thrust his way by an enemy nin.

Kakashi looked at his opponent in surprise. He did not expect the green haired jounin to block his strike. He immediately jumped back to give himself some room to breathe.

What Kakashi did not know was that Inago was the most powerful shinobi stationed in Tekkou. Inago was once a shinobi of great renown in Kusa and some of it's neighboring countries. That all changed when his best friend Zetsu betrayed their village and went rouge. Inago was never the same. He spent the years following that incident completing missions, with variable success, and hunting down Zetsu in his free time. He never found his old friend and it ate him up inside. He could not fathom that the man he knew since they had been little children would betray him and their village like that. Trying to assassinate the leader of your village is not something you do on a whim. You plan something like that in advance.

For years Inago searched for Zetsu, to get the answers he so desired and to bring the man back to Kusa to face justice. He had failed miserably, he never found a trace of Zetsu. He only knew that his ex-friend had joined the Akatsuki. That organization however proved to be very illusive. Till three years ago, when rumors reached Kusa that the Akatsuki had been taken out and by some unknown mercenary to boot.

After that Inago changed, he felt like he had lost all his motivation to be a shinobi. He even retired from active duty for two years. He lived a peaceful live, as far as that was possible in a hidden village full of shinobi. But after two years a war with Konoha and Suna seemed inevitable and he was asked to return to active duty. He refused at first, he no longer cared all that much. His superiors were relentless however. They wanted him to take command over a small mining village in what once was Ame. He agreed, Tekkou was far enough from the frontlines so there was little chance that he would actually have to fight and that's what he wanted. He wanted to continue his calm lifestyle as much as possible.

I seemed now that he was wrong though.

Inago immediately recognized his opponent. It wasn't very hard. Hatake Kakashi was a man known throughout the entire world. Inago knew that this was not going to be easy.

Fortunately his skills as a shinobi never dwindled when he retired. Even though Kakashi could not see, underneath Inago's green jounin gear and gray vest he had a physique that even most veteran jounin would look at with envy. Inago never stopped training when he retired. Most people did not understand why he didn't. The answer was surprisingly simple. He couldn't, he was used to training day in and day out. And it helped him relax. So he simply couldn't stop. Quite fortunate it would seem.

Inago smirked, pulled out another kunai and dashed at the stunned Konoha jounin and engaged the Copy-nin in a taijutsu mach.

Kakashi did not find his fame at the bottom of a box of cereal however. He had earned it through many horrific experiences and hard work, although he would by no means ever tell that to Gai. He would never hear the end of it. So Kakashi quickly recovered from his shock and engaged Inago in combat.

Kakashi was a little impressed with his adversary while they tried to hit each other and blocked each incoming strike. Though Kakashi did have his Sharingan to help him out, the other jounin was able to match him in a taijutsu match. There were only a handful of people he knew who had enough skill to do that. So Kakashi knew this was going to be tricky, his opponent seemed to be powerful, and Kakashi himself was not the youngest anymore and most importantly the use of his Sharingan was consuming his chakra like Gai in a spandex store.

Alarms were going of now all over town and with Sakura using the monstrous strength she inherited from Tsunade to destroy some buildings the chaos was complete. Just like they wanted. Kakashi could already see numerous civilians running around trying to escape the small village.

Kakashi looked at his enemy again. The man was more powerful than he had anticipated. It would not do for him to be held up here. This town would disappear under water in a few minutes. He had to end it know. With one deciding thrust he managed to push his opponent back a little. This gave him the space to quickly discard his kunai and make the necessary handseals.

"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu." whispered the Konoha jounin while he sent a huge ball of fire towards Inago.

Inago wasn't stupid and immediately prepared a defense when he saw the flames racing in his direction.

"Doton – Doryuu Jouheki!" screamed Inago as he slammed his hands into the ground. It was immediately followed by al loud rumbling and a second later a huge stone wall rose from the ground to block Kakashi's technique.

The big ball of fire stood no chance and dispersed upon impact with the wall. Inago's technique had one huge disadvantage however. Because of the wall he could no longer see his adversary. Kakashi was without a doubt planning his next move behind the wall.

It wasn't long before Kakashi made his move. The masked jounin jumped over the stone wall that Inago had raised and threw some shuriken at the Kusa jounin.

Inago was forced to jump back as Kakashi came at him again with a kunai and they continued where they had left of.

While Kakashi was occupied with his own opponent Tenten was doing as she was told and held off all the chunin and genin that came her way.

Despite their overwhelming numbers she had little trouble holding them off. Hell, training with Neij and the overly exuberant Lee was more challenging than this. Over course it would do her little good to underestimate her foes.

She could hear Sakura do her thing in the distance. Tenten was a little worried for the pink haired kunoichi. Sure, Sakura was a great medic and with that enormous strength she certainly was a force not to mess with. But the girl had very little combat experience, she spent most of her time in the hospital and thus very little on the frontlines.

Sakura seemed to be doing fine at the moment however.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when a huge explosion made the ground she stood on tremble like an earthquake. When she looked around to find what had caused that shockwave she saw that almost the entire northern part of Tekkou was burning. She was awed by the destruction that could only be Yuurei's doing. She could not comprehend how a single man could be so powerful. It was just unheard of, not even the Hokage or Jiraiya could do things like that, maybe with a little help from some of their summoned animals, but Yuurei's power still seemed out of this world.

Unfortunately she could not ponder on those thoughts, as she had to duck out of the way of a thrown kunai. So Tenten had to focus back on her own assignment, for now.

She saw two chunin coming at her from her left. A second later they had multiple kunai sticking out if their bodies and fell to the ground in bloody heaps.

'_This is too easy.'_ Thought Tenten as she jumped onto the roof of a nearby building and launched another barrage of kunai and shuriken at some unfortunate Kusa chunin.

Someone who was not having an easy time was Kakashi. His opponent proved to be far more powerful than he had anticipated. He had managed to cut his opponent several times, but Inago had done the same with him. Kakashi did not suffer any grievous wounds, but he had some nasty cuts on his right arm and chest.

Both him and Inago had been evenly matched so far. And time was running out. There were only a few minutes left before Yuurei would flood the village.

Kakashi needed to do something to end this fight right now. So he jumped back, put away his kunai and quickly made the necessary handseals for his next jutsu.

Inago attempted to do the same thing, but Kakashi was faster.

"Katon, Housenka no Jutsu!" shouted Kakashi as he fired several small balls of fire in Inago's direction. Inago had no choice but to duck out of their way, just as Kakashi had planned.

The Copy Nin used his opponent's momentary distraction to dash into a nearby alleyway between two buildings Sakura had not yet destroyed.

Knowing that his opponent could easily locate him is he stayed were he was he sprinted through the alley and around a corner. He needed some time to prepare his next move.

Once he found a place where he could hide and prepare he pulled out a scroll from a pocket on his vest. He opened the scroll while he smeared some of Inago's blood on the scroll. He had gotten the blood from the kunai he had just used to fight the Kusa nin. After that he rolled the scroll back up, made the necessary handseals and slammed the scroll onto the ground.

"Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu!" yelled Kakashi and his declarations was followed by a rumbling sounds that came from the earth.

'_Now all I have to do is find the guy and end this.'_ Thought the Konoha shinobi to himself as he walked of to where he thought Inago was.

I did not take him long to find the Kusa shinobi. Kakashi found Inago in almost the exact same place as where he had left him but this time the green haired man was held in place by eight of Kakashi's summoned dogs. It seemed his plan had worked and that Inago had fallen prey to the dogs when they burst out the ground.

"This is the end." Said Kakashi is he pulled a kunai from his pouch.

It surprised him to see Inago smirking at him.

"Do you really think I will go down this easily? I'm not as weak as you think, Konoha scum." said the captured shinobi coolly, with a cocky grin on his face before he announced his jutsu.

"Doton: Retsudotenshō!"

Immediately the ground around Kakashi's feet began to spiral inwards on itself, dragging the jounin down with it.

Inago smirked in satisfaction. That stupid Konoha jounin had underestimated him. There was no way to escape that jutsu, the ground underneath the victim turned into quicksand and would drag its victim down into the earth, where he or she would be crushed.

Unlike most other shinobi, Inago could make one-handed seals. Even with the dogs hanging of him they had only one of his hands restrained. So he used the other to cast his jutsu.

The grin fell from his face however when he saw his enemy disappear in a plume of smoke.

"I'm not as weak as you think either." Said a cold voice behind him before his world went dark.

Kakashi looked down upon the now dead Kusa jounin as his nin dogs poofed away. Despite the fact that he had been able to take the green haired shinobi with relative ease in the end, it had been a hard fight. He has spent more chakra than he wished he did, so he was glad it was over.

When he looked around he saw that Tenten had been able to take out most lower-ranked shinobi that came their way. He knew that there were probably still some genin and chunin running around town. But they would have to wait. If all went according to their plan Tekkou would become very wet in just a few moments.

"Kakashi-sensei!" yelled Sakura who came running at him.

"Are you hurt?" asked the pink haired girl as soon as she was near him.

"I'm fine, Sakura. A few cuts, but no major wounds."

"I'll take care of them right away." Said the girl as she prepared to use a healing jutsu.

"There is no time for that, we have to get out of here and meet up with Kurenai."

Sakura nodded and ran towards Tenten to tell the other girls that they were leaving.

Kakashi surveyed his surroundings one last time. They had done a good job. Most enemy shinobi were taken out and a lot of civilians had fled the small village. When the water comes most villagers will already be somewhere safe.

A minute later a huge wave of water rushed through Tekkou, flooding the small town en destroying the mine. Kakashi and his team were long gone by then.

* * *

About fifteen minutes earlier Naruto had entered the office building. He was not impressed. It reminded him a little of the Hokage's tower. The main lobby of the building was filled with an assortment of civilians who were now panicking because the alarms had gone off and a number of genin and chunin who were trying to calm the villagers and get them to safety.

Naruto could vaguely hear Sakura wreaking havoc on the southern parts of Tekkou. The girl had become powerful under the Hokage's watch it seemed.

Naruto created a handful kage bunshin to clear out the building at a faster pace and speed up the search for any kind of communication device that could be used to call for back up. The was the biggest threat to his team at the moment, he had hoped that he would have a little more time to locate it, but the alarms went of quicker than he had thought.

His clones immediately charged into the mass of people, who had not yet noticed him, and started to cut down the enemy shinobi. They left the civilians unharmed, there was no reason to kill all of them and many will die anyway when the water comes.

The original Naruto made his way to a nearby staircase and rushed to the second floor. There he summoned another bunch of kage bunshin to clear out that floor, while the original continued to the next floor and repeated the process until he had reached the fifth and final floor. While cutting down the hostile shinobi he came across on his way.

When he opened the door to that floor he was surprised to see that this floor, unlike the others, did not consist of many small offices. This floor had one big office in which he found three jounin. Considering the fact that one of them was sitting behind a large desk and shouting orders at the other two, Naruto figured that the man behind the desk was in charge of Tekkou.

The three shinobi were trying to figure out why there were alarms going of al over town. In their confusion none of them had even thought about contacting their allies outside of Tekkou. Naruto knew this because one of his clones and the second floor had found an unused radio transponder. The clone had destroyed the radio and then dispelled himself to let the original Naruto know that his biggest threat had been neutralized. It seemed luck was in his side today. If the others did their jobs there would be no reinforcements for Tekkou.

It was then that the three Kusa shinobi noticed the newest addition to the office.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" yelled the one sitting behind the desk.

He never got and answer, because a moment later there was a sword sticking out of his chest.

Naruto effortlessly disposed himself of the three men. There was no reason to turn this into an all-out fight. He had other things on his mind as more of his clones dispelled themselves, transferring their memories to the original.

The blond mercenary frowned behind his mask. Besides the radio transponder and some enemy shinobi his clones had found nothing interesting. There was also nothing in the office he was currently in that would be of any value to Konoha.

When his last clone dispelled itself it became painfully obvious that there had been no reason to search this building at all. Naruto was a little disappointed. He could just have destroyed it instead of carefully investigating each floor. Now it was just a big waste of time.

This moment however was not the time to think about that.

Naruto walked back to the staircase and headed for the roof of the building. There he found four chunin who had no idea what was going on in Tekkou. They could hear the alarms going of and see the smoke and flames coming from the other side of the village, near the mine. They had not moved because they were ordered to stay and protect the building they were standing on at all time.

Not much later Naruto was alone on the roof, with a bloody sword in his hand. He could see the chaos on the other side of Tekkou and saw many shinobi rushing in that direction. There were a few chunin and genin left that were helping the last remaining civilians running around to get out of town.

After observing his surroundings for a few moments he decided that is was time to end this. He resealed his sword, closed his eyes and raised both his hands to the sky and prepared to use one of his most destructive techniques.

For a moment it seemed like nothing was happening, till flames started to appear above the red-clad mercenary.

More flames seemed to spawn out of nowhere and merged together. Soon there was a huge sphere of fire hovering over Naruto's head. The orb of flames was easily as big a house and the few shinobi and civilians remaining in the streets looked at it in fear.

When the sphere was big enough Naruto lowered his arms en opened his eyes. A second later, without a word or any kind of signal from Naruto the sphere broke apart in dozens of smaller balls that immediately scattered in every direction.

Some of these balls struck houses, shops and other buildings, including the office building Naruto was standing on. Others hit the remaining shinobi dead on, while they amazingly enough did not harm any of the civilians. Unless there still were people inside the destroyed buildings, while their deaths were regrettable Naruto did not really care. People die when you are at war, there is no way around that. He just hoped that most of them had been able to escape the burning village.

As the village burned around him and the building under his feet went up in flames, Naruto disappeared a well. He would look around and finish of the last remaining shinobi before his clone unleashed the water.

* * *

He was inclined to whistle a cheerful tune, but that would not go well with his badass personality, or so he reasoned. But, he was happy not the less. He had gotten a decent meal, burned some trees and had taken a nice nap during the afternoon. Even if he had an important personal mission, it did not mean he could not relax.

He was now returning to his tent after his meal and was pleasantly surprised to see someone waiting for him there.

"Good day, Uchiha-san." Said Itachi.

Sasuke, who had not yet noticed Gengetsu's return, turned to face him.

"You said you have a friend you want to return home. I assume you are speaking of Naruto?"

Gengetsu merely nodded, indicating that Sasuke's guess was correct.

"I want to help, just tell me what to do and I'll make it happen."

"That is good to hear. Please, follow me, I do not want to discus these matters here. A lot of people would disagree with us and I don't want them to overhear anything we may discuss." Said Gengetsu as he started walking in the direction of one of the exits to the encampment.

Sasuke nodded in response and followed the mercenary.

A few minutes later they found themselves in the forest surrounding the camp.

"So, what's your plan?" asked Sasuke, who was a little impatient.

"I will get to that. However I have a small number of questions before we begin."

"Again with the questions. You already know why I did what I did en how I feel about Konoha and Naruto now. What else is there to ask?"

"I assure you. To reach our goal these questions must be answered."

Sasuke only glared in response. Itachi took that as a sign to continue.

"What do you know about Naruto, aside from the obvious?"

"If you are talking about the Kyuubi. I know and so do the people he used to be friends with. Shortly after Naruto was banished Tsunade apparently told everyone. I heard about it from Orochimaru."

"Is that all? Have you never noticed that Naruto was different than what he portrayed to be? Or that he knew your brother?"

"He… He knew my brother. How? Why?" asked a confused Sasuke.

"Oh he knew your brother very well. They had been the best of friends since he was six years old. Hell, Itachi thought him most he knew. It was Itachi that inspired him to become a shinobi."

Itachi knew that wasn't true. Naruto always wanted to be a ninja, so he could be Hokage one day. But hey, when you are talking about yourself, you are allowed to change the facts a little and make yourself look better. At least, that's how Itachi sees it.

"You are joking right. There is no way Itachi thought Naruto anything. Naruto was an absolute failure at the academy and for a long time thereafter."

"Are you sure about that? Naruto could have hidden his talent from everybody."

"That is not possible. I would have noticed. We were on the same genin team for almost a year."

"Trust me on this, I speak the truth. Naruto has always been very good at hiding his strengths, feelings and emotions. He wanted everyone to see him as an weak idiot."

"Why would he do that? There would have been no reason for him to hide everything!" Yelled Sasuke, who was getting irritated with the stubborn mercenary.

"He had many reasons to keep all those things a secret. How do you think the population of Konoha would have responded when they found out that the local demon actually was very intelligent and powerful? They would have been even more scared of him, which would have led to more mistreatment. And don't think I'm just talking about people glaring at him on the streets or merchants refusing to sell him stuff. No, before Itachi took him under his wing, Naruto was beaten to a bloody mess on a weekly basis."

"If all that is true, why have I never noticed anything, or Kakashi or Sakura for that matter?"

"You probably did notice, but never paid any thought to it."

Sasuke looked at him and the look in his eyes told Itachi that his younger brother did not believe a word he said.

"He once told me about a mission to Nami no Kuni he undertook with your team." Said Gengetsu. "Something about a bridge builder or something. Anyway, he told me that your sensei got captured by the enemy during that mission and that you and Naruto had saved him with a tactic thought up by Naruto. I believe he had transformed himself into a fuuma shuriken or something like that."

Itachi stopped there to see if Sasuke had any idea what he was talking about. He himself had no idea if he was right. Naruto never liked to talk about his genin team and had only mentioned this particular mission in the passing a couple of years ago. Itachi had no idea if he was making any sense at all.

The look on Sasuke's face however, indicated that he was on the right track. So he continued.

"Do your really think an idiot like the one Naruto pretended to be would be able think and plan something like that? Never mind the fact that Naruto was ably to create hundreds of kage bunshin, something that would leave most jounin winded. Or that he was the only one to figure out the true test hidden behind the last question of the first examination of your chunin exams seven years ago." Itachi knew those facts for certain.

Sasuke could not find the words to speak. He did not want to accept it, but somehow Gengetsu's words made sense. He was absolutely right about the fact that Naruto was stronger than he had first thought, or that the blond had shown some remarkable insight in some of the most intense situations.

"I will trust you, for now. I still can't believe it, but I will accept your views for the time being. Do you have any other questions?" asked Sasuke after he had thought about Gengetsu's declaration for a few minutes.

"Why do you hate Yuurei so much?"

While Sasuke did not know, this was actually the most important question for understandable reasons.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"This question is more significant than you think, so please answer."

Sasuke could not see how this was of any importance, but if it would help Naruto, why not?

"I do not hate Yuurei as a person, I hate him for what he did. For the better part of my life I have trained to kill my brother and avenge my clan. I even betrayed Konoha and went to Orochimaru who could make me even stronger. Do you have any idea what that guy did to me? Let me tell you, it isn't pretty. But I fought through it, knowing that I would one day kill my brother. But suddenly Yuurei comes along and kills him and I'm left with noting. After four years of suffering under Orochimaru I had nothing. And that's why I hate him and want to kill him, or at least beat the shit out of him. To prove to myself that my pain was worth it in the end. That I could have killed Itachi, if he was still alive."

Itachi hated to admit it, but he could understand what Sasuke was saying. But it was Sasuke's own fault. If he never went to Orochimaru, neither he nor Naruto would have had to suffer so much during those years.

"I do not disagree with you there, however, you joined Orochimaru of your own free will. And now you are blaming Yuurei for your misery. That isn't very reasonable."

"That doesn't matter, it's how I see the situation. I will never find peace of mind if I cannot put this matter to rest. And to do that I need to prove to myself that I'm stronger than Yuurei."

"And what if your not as powerful is him? You cannot keep on hating him forever. I know for a fact that you, nor anyone else, will ever defeat him. He is too powerful."

"I will find a way to do it."

"You won't, believe me, I have tried. He's on a level of his own." Responded Gengetsu while he looked away. If he did not have his mask in place Sasuke would have seen the look of reminiscence in his eyes. Then again, if Itachi did not have his mask he probably would have been trying not to get killed by Sasuke. Not that his younger brother stood any chance against him, but Itachi did not want to fight him.

"Anyway, if you want Naruto to return to Konoha you should try to get along with Yuurei. That is essential to Naruto's return."

Sasuke only glared at him.

Itachi sighed. Why did his little brother have so stubborn? "Just try to talk to him once he gets back from his mission. You have more in common than you realize. It may also help you to find some closure."

Sasuke's glare did not lessen, but after a few moments he just resigned to his faith. "Fine, I'll try to speak with him, but I won't make any promises. He does not like me and I certainly don't like him."

"I just want you to try, that's all I ask."

A simple nod from Sasuke ended the discussion.

"Ok, on to other matters. I want you to find out how all of Naruto's other friends feel about him."

"They feel the same as me, I'm certain about that."

"Good, in that case I want you to ask them to help us." Said Gengetsu

"How exactly are they supposed to help us?"

"Most of them are either the heir or the child of the current clanhead of their respective clans." This gives them a lot of influence on the clanheads, who have a seat in the Konoha city council." Explained Gengetsu. "The council is a big obstacle for us. They are the people that banished Naruto in the first place. With the help from their children we can maybe change their opinion of Naruto."

Sasuke had to admit that it was a very logical argument.

"I'll see what I can do."

"Good, please do. Contact me if you have anything interesting to tell me." Said Gengetsu as he tried to walk away.

"Wait!"

"Yes?" asked Gengetsu.

"What will you be doing in the mean time?"

"I must try to convince Naruto to forgive Konoha and make him come back." Then he just turned around and left Sasuke there standing, with his mouth agape.

* * *

**There you have it. A new chapter.**

**I wish to thank everyone for his or her help and support. It is thanks to you guys that there is no longer a lame copy of this story around en thus I am obligated to continue this.**

**I'm really, really sorry that it took so long again, I was really busy with my exams and stuff like that and failed to anticipate on it. So I really hope you liked this chapter. **

**Even if I didn't. I don't like writing fight scenes. That's why they suck masses of ass, are very short and will almost be none existent in this story (unless they really are necessary or function as filler material, like the ones in this chapter).**

**I do look forward to writing the next chapter though. I have some awesome ideas and hope I'll be able to properly put them on paper.**

**Well, thanks again and I hope that I'll be able to update soon.**

**19.1.25**


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